


Loving You is Different

by juli_with_a_chance



Category: The Bold Type
Genre: Angst, Bi Sutton, Fluff and Smut, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2019-06-22 06:59:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 47,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15576327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juli_with_a_chance/pseuds/juli_with_a_chance





	1. Chapter 1

-Kat POV-

Sutton, Jane and I were sat on a bench in Central Park, people watching on the warm September morning, something we’ve done almost every Saturday since we met at work, “I should write my next article on the wonders of people watching,” Jane chimes, looking over at a group of people that were doing what looked to be yoga in the middle of the park, in front of hundreds of people like it was normal. 

“You are in the right place for it,” Sutton chimes, taking a sip of her coffee. 

“Yeah really, you may as well, title it, ‘The Odd Humans of New York,’” I chime, they both look at me before laughing, “what?”

“This is why I am a writer and you are head of social media.”

“I’m just trying to help you out, you’re the one with writer’s block.” 

“Yeah, and I know what I want to write about, it just isn’t really  _ Scarlet _ ,” she sighs. 

“Write the article about Fashion Week, seeing as it starts this week.”

“I don’t want to write about that.” 

“Write about how high strung you are,” I tease.

“Okay, right after I write about how you can’t have a relationship last more than a week.”

“Ouch,” I chuckle, “okay, we don’t need to make this about me.”

“Then let me wallow in my own writer’s block and doubts,” Jane chimes.

“Okay then, while you do that, I will continue to go through my life having relationships that last a week long, seeing as I get bored with people quite easily.”

“Do you think anyone out there will catch your interest?” Sutton asks.

“I don’t know. I mean, yeah New York is a big place, but I feel like when it comes to dating, you see the same guys at the same bars and everything is the same,” I say.

“Maybe you’re gay,” Sutton says nonchalantly, looking down at her phone.

“I’m not gay.” 

“I think sexuality is fluid. We aren’t truly straight, or truly gay. There’s a spectrum,” Sutton explains. 

“Well, I know I like guys so, there is no second guessing for me,” Jane says. 

“I feel the same way,” I say, looking over at Sutton, “what about you?”

“I’ve had some women in my life.”

“ _ Some women _ ?” Jane emphasizes. 

“Yes, college was a fun time. I’m not afraid to say I was with women and had a relationship with a woman, her name was Sara, she was so hot.” 

“The spectrum of sexuality, that is my story!” Jane says, writing it down into a notebook.

“Glad to help, I wonder what she’s up to,” Sutton says, going onto her phone.

“Are you really checking in on your ex-girlfriend?” I ask, looking over to see her on Instagram, going through a profile of some girl that would only be described as looking like Alicia Vikander, “she’s hot.”

“And you’re straight,” Sutton teases. 

“Can I not appreciate a woman’s beauty without it being gay?”

“It’s a little gay, back to the spectrum theory.” 

“Okay, okay. Maybe I should do some sexual identity exploration, but like, how could you…”

“Go down on a girl?”

“Yeah, I mean, I barely enjoy looking at my own, I could only imagine orally pleasing someone else’s.”

“It isn’t as traumatizing as you may think it is.”

“Are you two done?” Jane asks.

“Why?”

“Because now that I have the idea, I know the angle I want to take and I want to start writing it.”

“Go, Kat and I are still going to hang out. I’ll see you home later.” 

“Yeah, go write.” 

“Thanks, love you guys.”

“Love you too!” We both call out as she runs out of the park. 

“So, do you think you’d be into seeing a woman?” Sutton asks, turning on the bench to face me.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I would be opposed to the idea, but the sexual part is something I don’t know if I can handle. A guy is easy, you just play with it enough and they’re happy no matter what, as a woman I know it is a lot more than that.”

“But as a woman, you know what another woman would like, seeing as the anatomy is all the same, it’s just someone else who is enjoying what it is you’re doing, rather than yourself. If Oliver ever fires me, I should become a sexologist.”

“Whatever you want to put your mind to, Babe,” I say, patting her shoulder. 

“So, you’re going to go with it?” She asks, looking back at the girl’s Instagram. 

“I will be more open to whatever life decides to throw at me.” 

“That’s the spirit!” 

* * *

I was walking into a bar in Brooklyn, waiting for Sutton and Jane, something that was usually the case, seeing as we always met up in my neighborhood of Dumbo, rather than Greenpoint. I walked over to the bar, ordering myself a vodka soda while I answered work emails and skimmed through our social channels. I look around trying to see if I see Jane and Sutton when someone catches my attention at the end of the bar. It was a small group of women, all laughing and talking from what I could tell, except for one in the group that was staring at me with a smirk. “Sorry we’re late, the Uber took forever,” Sutton chimes as she walks over to me. I quickly turn away to face her.

“It’s fine, I haven’t been here that long.”

“But you were here long enough to catch eyes with that hottie over there.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, paying for my drink. 

“Well, she doesn’t seem to be phased by the fact that I just walked in, she’s coming over here.”

“Who’s that hot lady coming over?” Jane asks, looking in the same directions as Sutton.

“Someone that could radically change Kat’s life, we’ll be over here,” Sutton says, ushering the two of them away. 

“Hello,” A breathy voice says behind me. I feel my body react in a way I have never reacted to a person before. I turn around and look into dark brown eyes.

“Hey,” I say, trying to keep my composure.

“I would ask to buy you a drink, but I see you already have one.”

“Yeah,” I say, watching the woman smile nervously. 

“That may have ruined my come on.” 

“You still have a chance, I’m easily impressed,” I chime, taking a sip of my drink. 

“Your friends are staring at us,” she nods, I turn to see Sutton and Jane staring intently and then waving manically. 

“Ignore them,” I say, waving them off, “your friends look as if they don’t even realize you’re gone.”

“They probably don’t, they have the tendency to be self-absorbed art snobs.”

“Are you an artist?” 

“Photographer. You?”

“I’m a department head at a magazine.”

“Impressive, you seem rather young to have that much power.”

“You just met me, you don’t know if I’m worth that power.” 

“Well, all the more reason to get to know you more,” The woman chimes extending her hand, “Adena.”

“Kat.” 

“Nice to meet you, Kat,” she says. As soon as she said my name, I knew something about her was going to drastically change my life in one way or another. Sutton and Jane are forgotten about to me, and Adena’s friends seem to longer exist to her, in fact, it feels as if we are the only two sitting at this bar, I sip on vodka sodas while Adena drinks club sodas with lime, quickly making it known that drinking alcohol was something she didn’t do for the sake of her faith, something about her I was able to tell right away based on the fact she was wearing a blue hijab that was wrapped neatly around her head. We get caught up in our own little bubble that we didn’t notice half of the bar was now empty and the bartender was beginning to clean up, “apparently we’ve been talking for hours,” Adena says, looking at her phone to check the time. 

“Y-yeah,” I smile, looking at my phone to see it was well after midnight and I had several texts from Jane and Sutton, the main one saying they didn’t want to bother me, but they had to get going. 

“I don’t want to be forward.”

“We’ve been talking for hours, in a bar where we are the only two people left, you can be forward,” I chime, causing Adena to let out a breathy laugh. 

“Well, I would like to see you again.”

“I would like to see you again, too.” 

“I have a showing at a gallery on the Upper West Side,” Adena says, shuffling through her bag, “Monday night, if you’d like to come to it,” handing me a card.

“I’ll do my best to be there.” I smile, we stare at each other for a moment before Adena steps forward with open arms, pulling me into a hug. 

“I hope you can make it, if not please let me know. My information in on that card.” 

“Okay.” I smile.

“Bye Kat.” 

“Bye Adena.” 

* * *

I sat at my desk, tweeting every so often. I look at the card that Adena gave me, seeing it had all of her professional information, so I did what anyone else would do and I Googled her. I get lost going through her website that featured a lot of her work. “What are you doing?” Sutton chimes, causing me to jump, “is that the girl from the bar?”

“Uhm,” I say, not knowing how to answer.

“Are you going with the flow of life?” She chimes, wiggling her eyebrows. 

“We were talking until the bar was closed,” I say, turning to face her. 

“Really?”

“Yeah, she invited me to a gallery showing.” 

“Gallery showing, what does she do?”

“She’s a photographer.” 

“Ooh, very nice.” 

“Yeah, and she’s very worldly. I could have kept talking to her,” I say with a small smile.

“I bet you’ve never felt that way with a guy.”

“No. No, I have not.” 

“Spectrum.” Sutton chimes before walking away. 


	2. Chapter 2

-Kat POV-

I stand in front of the mirror, looking at my fifth outfit choice, “why do I feel like nothing looks right?” I call down to Jane and Sutton who were currently sitting on my couch, waiting to be dragged along to Adena’s showing. 

“Because you’re nervous about seeing this woman, what’s her name again?” Sutton calls out.

“Adena.” 

“You look good, let’s go,” Jane says as she comes up the stairs to see me standing with a pile of clothes around me. 

“What about my hair, should I leave it or pull it back?”

“At this rate, the showing is going to be over, you look great, let’s go,” she says pulling me down the stairs, “did you forget we have to go over to Manhattan?”

“No, I didn’t. We still have time, it only starts at seven.”

“It’s seven now, genius,” Sutton says. 

“Okay, fine, let’s go,” I say, grabbing my bag and walking out the door.

* * *

We walk into the gallery, there were a fair amount of people around. Everyone looking at the photos on the walls and discussing different things, a person with a tray of wine walks by and the three of us grab a glass before walking further into the exhibit, “these are amazing,” Jane chimes.

“Thank you,” a familiar voice says behind us, we all turn around and I smile, “hello Kat.”

“Hello, Adena,” I say quietly, hugging her when she steps towards me with open arms, “these are my friends, this is Jane and this is Sutton.”

“Nice to meet you.” They both say.

“Nice to meet you as well, can I borrow your friend for a bit?” Adena chimes, linking her arm in “mine. 

“No problem, we’ll be around.” Sutton says, pushing Jane in a random direction.

“I am happy to see you,” Adena says in my ear, “I truly didn’t know if you were going to come.”

“I’m not going to lie, I was looking forward to seeing you again.” 

“I was looking forward to see you again, too,” She smiles as we slowly walk through her show. 

“How many places have you been?” I ask, seeing as some of the photos were of landmarks from around the world. The Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, The Great Wall, and so on. 

“Several,” she says, “if I told you all of the places, you may not believe me.”

“Try me.” 

“How about we grab a coffee one day, and I’ll tell you.” 

“Are you asking me on a date?”

“Would you be opposed if I was?” She asks, tilting her head to the side.

“No,” I say, shaking my head. 

“So, would you like to go on a date with me?” 

“I would have to find the time, I usually tend to be pretty busy with work.” 

“So, let me see your phone,” she says, holding her hand out. I hand her my phone and she smiles, “now you can call me when you have time.”

“Okay,” I nod. Adena continues to lead me around the gallery, showing her different photos she had on display, the obvious theme had to do with landmark places in the world. “You’re very talented.” 

“Thank you.”

“Is it a natural talent, or?”

“I was drawn to it in my travels, and perfected it by studying at one of the best schools in the world.”

“I see you have a big ego for a reason,” I tease, laughing when Adena rolls her eyes. 

“Well, I know I’m good at my craft, and I worked hard to achieve there.”

“Where did you study?”

“Speos. It’s a photography institute in Paris.”

“Fancy.”

“Yes, in fact,” Adena laughs. A woman walks up behind her, wrapping her arm around Adena and whispering something in Adena’s ear that causes her to laugh, I feel my stomach drop for a moment, not knowing how to take the exchange in front of me when the woman walks away. Adena looks at me, furrowing her brow, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I say, forcing a smile and shaking my head. 

“She’s an old friend, I’ve known her since I was studying in Paris.”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me, you just met me.”

“I don’t want to give you the wrong idea.”

“Again, we just met.”

“Have you ever been connected to someone so strongly in an instant that you feel like you have to explain yourself to them no matter what?” 

“Once, in college.” 

“So, you remember what that was like?” She asks, all I could do was nod, “well, I feel as if that is happening with me towards you.” 

“I didn’t like that feeling.” 

“I don’t like it either, but I don’t want to fight it.” 

“Maybe you should,” I say, looking down at the floor.

“Are you that upset about Coco coming up to me? You said it yourself we just met, but I will defend the fact that she is only a friend, nothing more.”

“I’m gonna go.”

“Stay,” she says, standing in front of me. 

“It’s late, I have an early meeting,” I say, walking around her.

“Kat!” I stop in my tracks and take a deep breath, the way she says my name has gotten to me since I first heard her say it Saturday night. It has only been three days since I met this woman, and there was something about her that threw me for a loop and I don’t know how to handle it. I turn around to see her standing with her arms crossed, looking at me with hopefulness in her eyes, hopeful that I will turn and walk back towards her, hopeful that I will forget what just happened between her and Coco, hopeful that I won’t fall off the face of the planet because what she has done to me in a matter of days, I have also done to her. I can see it in her eyes that she and I are going to be radical shifts for each other, and it is going to be something that will have to be fought for on both sides. 

* * *

I walk into a cafe and see Adena sitting at a table by the window, I take a deep breath as I walk over to her, sitting down in front of her causing her to look up from the book she was reading with a smirk, “Kat.”

“Adena.”

“How are you?” She asks, putting her book in her bag.

“Good. I’m sorry I left the other night.”

“I was surprised to hear from you. I didn’t know if you were going to call me.”

“I felt like I should apologize, and I wanted to do it face to face, rather than calling.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” she says, shaking her head a bit, “there was a lot going on that night, I just want to move on from that.” 

“Okay,” I nod. 

“How is work?”

“Work, hectic, I was happy I was able to get away from meetings to see you.” 

“Well, I’m happy about that too.” 

“How did the rest of your showing go?”

“Great, I sold a lot of pieces, and was approached to do an interview.”

“Oh really, who approached you?”

“Someone from Scarlet Magazine, Jane Sloan. She looked like one of your friends from the bar that night.”

“She is one of my friends, why did she approach you?”

“Something about working women, I don’t remember, but I agreed to it.”

“Oh.”

“Do you also work for Scarlet? I remember you saying you were a department head.”

“Yes, I’m the head of social media at Scarlet.”

“How did you land a department head position at, how old are you?”

“Twenty-five. I was just in the right place at the right time,” I shrug. 

“So young."

“Well, how old you are, we never discussed that.”

“Thirty,” she chimes, chuckling at my reaction to hearing her age, “what?”

“I’ve just never been with someone five years older than me.”

“You don’t have a lot of experience with casual dating, do you?”

“If this is casual dating, then no.” 

“Are you open to it?”

“With you?”

“I mean, if you want it to be a general question it can be,” She says, sitting back in her chair. 

“I think I’m open to  _ this _ ,” I say, gesturing between us. 

“You do?”

“Y-yeah. I think I’m ready to take on this part of my life, wherever that may lead and whatever this means for us both.”

“Okay,” she nods, flashing me a smile. 

 

* * *

“Where were you?” Sutton asks as I’m walking to my desk. 

“I had coffee.”

“You had coffee?”

“Yeah.”

“With the photographer?”

“Adena,” I say, sitting down. 

“Right, Adena. Should I remember that?”

“Yeah, you should.” 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“All I can say it that I never thought I would be attracted to someone so instantaneously.”

“It’s scary, isn’t it?” She asks, sitting on the edge of my desk. 

“So scary, so, so, scary,” I say, leaning back a bit, “does it get less scary?”

“What part?”

“All of it.” 

“Yes, and no. You’re always going to have certain things that are scary, but the more you learn about someone, the easier it gets,” Sutton explains with a smile, “I should be a relationship expert.”

“Whatever makes you happy, Honey. Just promise to help me through this a bit?”

“Of course, everything will be okay, and you’ll do great. Give yourself a chance.”

“She’s older than me.”

“How much older?”

“Five years.”

“Don’t let that intimidate you, it isn’t something to worry about.” 

“Okay.” 

* * *

I was sitting in bed, reading through an article when my phone started ringing, I look to see it was Adena, smiling as I answer the phone, “Hello?”

_ “Hey, is this a bad time?” _

“No, it’s fine.”

_ “Sorry for calling you so late, I just wanted to talk to you.” _

“It’s okay, really. How was the rest of your day?”

_ “Good, I was out working, I only finished up not too long ago. How about you?” _

“It was alright, there is only so much excitement when it comes to my job.”

_ “It was nice getting to see you today.” _

“Yeah, it was nice getting to see you, too.” 

_ “Your friend Jane got in touch with me.” _   


“What happened with that?”

_ “Turns out someone else got the assignment on me, Alex something-or-other. I have a meeting with him tomorrow.” _   


“He’s a great guy, he’ll do you justice if you have him write your article.”

_ “Good to know. Will I get to see you sometime tomorrow?” _

“Most likely, yes.”

_ “I look forward to seeing you.” _

“I look forward to seeing you too, let me know when you get there, just so I can make sure I have time.”

_ “You don’t have to do that, it’s still your place of work, I wouldn’t want to disturb that. I am there on business too.” _

“But, I want to see you.” 

_ “Okay.”  _ We end up talking for a couple of hours, the conversation was easy and light. I didn’t want to stop talking to her, but in seeing it was nearly two in the morning, the conversation had to be forced to a close. 

“It’s getting late.”

_ “It is, I didn’t think it was that late.” _

“I didn’t either.” 

_ “I’ll see you later then?” _

“Of course."

_ “Goodnight, Kat.” _

“Goodnight, Adena.” 


	3. Chapter 3

-Kat POV-

“So, what’s happening?” Sutton asks as she walks into my apartment.

“Where’s Jane?”

“Something about seeing her boyfriend, I don’t know, she’ll raincheck. What’s going on with you and Annie Leibovitz.”

“Did you really just say that?” I ask, taking the bag of sushi from her and setting it down on the table.

“How are you and Adena,” she corrects, going into my fridge and pulling out the bottle wine.

“We’re good, we’ve been talking for about a few weeks, maybe a month now, she’s away for work.”

“Where is she?”

“Paris.”

“Paris?”

“Yeah, she goes back and forth. She said it had to do with her visa, she has to leave every so often and go back to France.”

“I thought she was Persian.”

“She is, either way, she has to leave this country and go home, but then she spends the time out of this country in France, rather than her own. I don’t know, she was talking to me about it before she left, but I could have cared less.”

“Did you two have sex yet?”

“Uhm,” I murmur, feeling my face grow hot.

“You did, didn’t you?” Sutton shrieks.

“I mean, she’s done a lot to me, but…”

“You haven’t put out?”

“Not in the same way, like she…” I sigh, feeling embarrassed for some reason.

“Don’t get shy, talk to me. You’ve listened to me talk about sex and Jane. It’s your turn to talk.”

“I haven’t…”

“You haven’t gone down on her?”

“No,” I say shaking my head as I start to eat dinner, “she does it to me, and it’s amazing, but I just can’t find it in me to do it to her.”

“Are you nervous about it?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you gone down on a guy ever?”

“Once, and I wasn’t a fan of it.”

“Well, it isn’t like doing it to a guy, that’s for sure,” Sutton says, popping a piece of sushi into her mouth, “it isn’t as… invasive, like having something in your mouth, not like that at all.”

“Is it stupid to overthink it?”

“Very, although I remember overthinking it too. Then I did it and felt stupid for overthinking it,” Sutton shrugs.

“Did you talk about it before you did it?”

“Yeah, we talked about it, Sara knew I was never with a woman prior to her, and she walked me through it.”

“I thought you said you’ve been with women?”

“Sara was my first, then after her, I knew what I liked, and when a guy wouldn’t satisfy me or give me what I wanted, I would go to a woman.”

“I never thought I would be having the conversation with you,” I laugh.

“I feel the same way, you and Jane both know that I can be pretty outspoken about my sex life, but some things you want to keep to yourself.”

“I understand and appreciate that about you. You don’t have to tell Jane and I every aspect of your life if you don’t want to.”

“And I don’t,” Sutton says, taking a sip from her wine glass.

“I don’t either.”

“Cheers to that,” she says, raising her glass. I follow her lead, touching our glasses together, “we are still entitled to our own business.”

“Yes, we are,” I chime, taking a sip from my glass as I hear my phone ring. I get up from the table, walking over to get my phone from its charger and smile when I see it’s Adena, “do you care if I talk to Adena for a little bit?”

“Not at all, you have enough wine to hold me over,” Sutton says, waving me off a bit.

“Hey,” I say as I answer the phone and make my way upstairs.

“ _Hello_ ,” Adena sings on the other line, “ _how are you? Is now a good time?_ ”

“Anytime is a good time, you know that,” I chime, sitting down on the floor.

“ _Well, that makes me happy to hear that. So how are you?_ ”

“I’m well. Sutton is over, we were just finishing up dinner.”

“ _How is Sutton? And your other friend, Jane?_ ”

“They’re good. Jane was busy tonight and couldn’t come by. How are you?”

“ _I’m well, working a lot before I come back to New York,_ ” she says, allowing for a silence to fall between us for a moment, “ _is it too forward to say I miss you?_ ”

“If it is, then I miss you too, and don’t care how forward it may be.”

“ _I can’t wait to see you again_.”

“I can’t either,” I say, feeling myself smile, “when do you get home?”

“ _I fly back in on Monday. My flight lands in the afternoon, if you don’t mind, I would like to see you after work._ ”

“You know you can come by whenever you want to.”

“ _I’m taking you up on that this time._ ”

“I hope you do,” I smile.

* * *

“Sorry, I missed dinner the other day,” Jane says when she sees me in the kitchen at work.

“No worries, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, Ben was off early and we went on a date.”

“Awe, how cute,” I tease.

“How are you and Adena?”

“Good, she comes back today, I’m excited to see her.”

“Good, are you two serious?”

“We’re keeping it casual.”

“Sex doesn’t keep things casual for long.”

“I know,” I sigh, scratching behind my ear, “I like what we have though, it’s sex without the expectations. We’re keeping it casual as best as possible.”

“You’re keeping it as casual as possible.”

“Adena is too, it isn’t like she’s jumping into turning this into a relationship, she’s on the same page as me.”

“Regardless, I just want you to know that I see how happy you are with her, she’s good for you.”

“I know that I feel that.”

“So don’t fight anything that happens.”

“I won’t,” I say, shaking my head.

* * *

Not too long after getting home from work, I hear a knock on the door. I make my way downstairs, opening the door to see Adena smiling, “hello,” she sings, stepping into my apartment.

“How was your flight?” I ask before she pulls me in for a kiss.

“Good,” she mumbles, kissing me again, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” I smile as she pulls me in for a hug.

“I want to talk to you,” she says, taking me by the hand and leading me to the couch, “while I was away, I was doing a lot of thinking,” Adena begins taking off her hijab.

“Okay.”

“We’ve been seeing each other for about two months now?”

“Give or take.”

“We’ve kept it pretty casual.”

“We have,” I nod, feeling myself grow a bit nervous.

“Where do you stand?”

“How do you mean?”

“Do you want this to stay casual?”

“What do you want?”

“I don’t know if I want to remain just casual with you…” Adena trails off, taking my hands on hers and playing with my fingers, “I know that all I could do when I was away was think about you, no matter what I was doing, I couldn’t not think about you.”

“I feel the same way,” I whisper, looking up from our hands to see her staring at me, “I don’t know what I’m doing, I can’t promise I’ll be good at a relationship. I can’t promise that I won’t mess it up. But I can promise that I will try my best.”

“Are you that scared?” She chimes as she caresses my cheek, a small smile on her face.

“Terrified.” Adena continues to smile as she leans in to kiss me softly, when she pulls away she whispers something in her language that I don’t understand, but she’s still smiling as she says it. “What did you just say?” I whisper, leaning my forehead against her.

“There is nothing to be scared of,” she whispers before kissing me again, “Do you want this?”

“Yes, do you?”

“Yes,” she nods as she pulls me into her embrace.

“So we’re a couple now, huh?”

“I suppose so.”

“You suppose?” I tease, pushing Adena onto be back as she chuckles. I feel her wrap her arms around my shoulders as she starts kissing me, my hands going right to her waist, playing with the hem of her shirt before I move to touch her skin.

“As much as I want to continue this, I just want to spend the time with you. Not just us having sex.”

“You didn’t just miss my body?” I tease, kissing her again as she pushes me back into a sitting position.

“No, I didn’t just miss your body.”

“What did you miss?”

“Your laugh,” she says lowly, looking at me with a smirk, “your big heart, your humor, your smile. This smile specifically,” she says, pointing at my face, “this one that makes your eyes sparkle. Sometimes I think you only share that particular smile with me and no one else.” I couldn’t help but kiss her before she had time to finish talking.

“You’re sweet.”

“So are you.”

“You’re going to make it easy for me to make this relationship work, aren’t you?”

“I want it to work, and I want you to be comfortable, I don’t want you to feel pressured into doing this, or obligated to make it work. I know you haven’t been in a relationship before, let alone a queer one, and I want it to be a comfortable experience for you.”

“I don’t deserve you.”

“Of course you do,” she smiles before muttering something in Persian.

“What does that mean?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” She chimes with a teasing smile.


	4. Chapter 4

-Kat POV-

I wake up to the faint smell of lilacs, opening my eyes to see the back of Adena’s head. I smile, pulling her into my front and kissing her shoulder, “Good morning,” she mumbles, her accent always thicker when she first wakes up, a sound that I would never get tired of hearing. She turns in my arms, burying her face in my chest.

“Good morning,” I chime, kissing her forehead.

“I never realized how warm you are.”

“Is that a compliment?” I laugh, feeling Adena’s body vibrate from her own laughter.

“It is. You’re a warm person to sleep beside.”

“Ah, well I feel the same about you. Then again I haven’t really slept beside anyone long enough to know what it feels like.”

“Well, I’m happy you get to experience new things with me, and I get to experience new things with you.”

“So am I,” I smile, “do you want coffee?”

“Yes, please. If you don’t mind.”

“Of course not,” I say, kissing her forehead and getting out of bed. I hear her following me, as I walk into the kitchen she goes into the bathroom.

“Thank you,” she smiles when I place a mug on the table for her as she walks out of the bathroom.

“You’re welcome.”

“Do you have any plans today?”

“Saturdays are for laundry and grocery shopping.”

“Sounds mundane.”

“Oh, it is,” I say, watching as Adena chuckles, looking down at her coffee, “what about you?”

“Working, always working.”

“That must suck.”

“When you enjoy what you’re doing, it isn’t really work though. I don’t mind it when I say I always work because I know I love what I do, and I was lucky enough to make a career of it.”

“You make the fact that you work seven days a week sound like fun, I work five days and I feel like I’m just going to fall into a life rut or something.”

“Why is that?” She asks, narrowing her eyes as she sits back in her chair.

“I got an internship at Scarlet right away, and then fell into the position of department head about two years later, and ever since then I have been working, high school, college, work. I didn’t have a chance to explore or anything like that. I was a good student and now I’m a good worker and boss, to some extent. I never had a chance to do anything and I’m twenty-five. I feel like I have no life experiences.”

“Where is that coming from?”

“You’ve traveled the world already and you take photos of everywhere you’ve been and go to because it’s your job. You’re so passionate in everything you talk about and I wish I was passionate about my job as much as you are about yours.”

“Don’t compare your experiences to mine,” she says, reaching across the table to take my hand in hers, “my life is anything but as stable as yours is and was. I left my country when I was seventeen, I left an oppressive government where I would have never had the life I have now if I stayed there. My life and career revolve around escape, Kat. Pure escape, I’m happy I found a niche in photography. Don’t feel discouraged about your life, you have an amazing job, with a prestigious position for someone your age. Who do you know is an average girl at twenty-five and is already the head of a department?”

“I love how you threw in ‘average’,” I say with a smile, “but I guess you’re right.”

“And you’ve been working for so long, you’ve probably gained vacation time, if you want to go anywhere in the world, just say when and we’ll go. Odds are I’ve been to wherever you want to go, and I’m not saying it to rub it in your face, but just so you know you’re going to have the best tour guide.”

“I would like that.”

“One day, but today is laundry day for you, and studio day for me,” she says with a smile.

“Yes, it is.”

“Would you like to get dinner later?”

“I would like that,” I nod.

“Want to come to my place?”

“You’re going to cook for me?”

“That’s partly the reason.”

“Do I get to guess that other part?”

“I think you know the other part,” she says lowly as she leans in to kiss me.

“You’re very forward Ms. El-Amin.”

“Is that a complaint or are you stating a fact?”

“Factual, of course,” I chime, kissing her again. We finish up our coffee when Adena realizes it’s time she should get going, seeing as it was pushing noontime.

“Before I go,” she says from the door as she lays her hijab over her head loosely, “is there anything you wouldn’t like to eat? Or are you willing to try anything?”

“I’ll try anything,” I smile, walking her to the door.

“Okay,” she chimes, leaning in to kiss me, “I’ll see you tonight.”

* * *

I walk up to the familiar building, ringing the bell and waiting for her to come downstairs. She opens the door to the building with a smile, “hello,” she chimes, kissing me quickly as she takes my hand and walks up the stairs to her apartment, “how was your day?” she asks, closing the door behind us.

“Good, I have clean underwear now,” I tease, causing Adena to roll her eyes at me with a smirk playing on her face, “it smells amazing in here,” I say when we walk into the small kitchen, several pots were on the small stovetop and counter space.

“Thank you,” Adena smiles, “what?”

“Nothing,” I say, shaking my head and stepping into her space. She looks at me with a shy smile, glancing at my lips before kissing me gently.

“Go sit,” she says, nodding towards the living room where she has laid out large Persian pillows around the coffee table.

“You don’t want any help?”

“No, it’s okay. I just have to just plate everything,” she says, kissing my cheek. I do as I’m told, making myself comfortable. I look through my phone when Adena walks over, placing a few different bowls on the table before walking back towards the kitchen, making sure the oven and stove were off, grabbing a bottle of Sanpellegrino from the fridge and sitting down beside me, “you look overwhelmed,” Adena teases as she fills our glasses with the sparkling water.

“No, I’m just surprised you cooked all of this. You’ve never cooked for me before.”

“What’s the surprising part? That I actually cook?”

“Yes,” I chime. Adena smiles, rolling her eyes at me.

“Well, I think we worked our relationship a little backward. I don’t know about you but I think the proverbial pink cloud of our sex life is something we can come down from a little bit. We should get to know each other more.”

“Are you saying no more sex?”

“You look scared,” she says through a laugh, putting her hand on my arm, “no, I’m not saying that, I just want us to get to know each other more emotionally,” she says, leaning in to kiss me.

“Well, I enjoy our sex life, and I wouldn’t want to eradicate if just because you want to get all emotional.”

“You don’t like emotion, that much I have been able to pick up on these past few weeks. You try to redirect with sex or humor, and I don’t want that to be the basis of our relationship, especially if we are going to be serious.”

“I’ll work on that,” I say, casting my eyes down. Focusing on one of the patterns on the Persian rug.

“Hey, I know this is all new to you, all of it. Being with a woman, being in a relationship, it’s a lot,” she says, placing her hand on my cheek, “I want you to be happy with me, and I want this to be something you want too.”

“I do want this. I mean it.”

“So we are going to take it day by day,” Adena smiles, kissing me softly, “do you want to eat?”

“Of course,” I laugh, looking at the small feast in front of us. She explains what each dish is and how it should be eaten. It seemed a bit odd, but at the same time it was nice to experience how different her culture is to American culture, and it was something I know was going to be interesting to learn and experience. Eating dinner was done more as a slow social event rather than a rushed way of getting through something, we savored conversation as well as food. Adena told me stories of her travels, how she explains things in thorough detail made me feel as if I was there with her when she walked The Great Wall of China or felt what she did when she stood in front of the Taj Mahal.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asks with a breathy tone.

“You’re an amazing storyteller is all, I feel as if I just traveled with you.”

“Would you like to travel with me? Back to the conversation, we had this morning.”

“Yes, I would.”

“Where do you want to go, if we could go anywhere today, where would you want to go?” She asks, resting her elbow on the sofa and her head in her hand.

“London.”

“England, really?”

“What?”

“I would have thought you would want to go to France,” she says lightly.

“Well, France has its appeal, but I can go there with work for Fashion Week when the time is right, but I would want to go to England.”

“I haven’t been to England, believe it or not.”

“Really, well we can experience it together,” I say, reaching for her hand and lacing our fingers together.

“That would be fun,” she says, looking at our hands with a smile.

“It would be. We’ll have to look into it.”

“We will,” she smiles, leaning in to kiss me. 


	5. Chapter 5

-Kat POV-

I continue to rummage through my closet, trying to find my favorite pair of silver boots, “where the hell are they?”

“Kat! We have to go, don’t worry about your tacky boots!” Jane calls up the stairs.

“Hey, they’re my favorite, so shut up. They go with this outfit.”

“They don’t go with any outfit, put on sneakers or something black and let’s go!” Sutton says, walking up the stairs to where I was standing in my closet.

“Ugh, fine,” I groan settling on a pair of black and white Nike’s.

“Why are those your favorite shoe when you have literally a hundred?” Sutton says, pointing to the shoes on the shelves.

“Because they’re comfortable.”

“Whatever, we have a meeting that we’re going to be late for,” Jane says, dragging me out of my apartment once I reach the bottom of the stairs. We make it to work with five minutes to spare before our meeting, much to the annoyance of Jane, seeing how she is more ‘Type A’ than Sutton and I ever would fathom to be. After the meeting I make my way to my desk, making it look as if I’m busier than I am.

“Kat, someone is here to see you,” the receptionist says with a polite smile before walking away. I get up, grabbing my phone to tweet a few things as I make my way to the lobby. As I look up from my phone a familiar flash of silver catches my eye, I smile as I follow the length of Adena’s body, starting with my shoes.

“You took them,” I say with a smirk, “I was almost late because I was looking for them this morning.”

“And I was almost late for a meeting because I was looking for that blouse this morning,” she chimes, walking up to me and kissing me quickly, “how are you?”

“Good, is everything okay?”

“I just wanted to see if you would like to get lunch?” she asks, taking my hand in hers.

“Yeah, I just have to grab my bag,” I say, leading her into the office and over to my desk. I grab my bag and log off the computer before leading the way towards the elevator. We end up in a restaurant not too far from my job, “how was your meeting?”

“Good, I have a showing at the end of the month, I think you may like it.”

“Do I get to know what it’s about?”

“No,” she states in a serious tone before smiling, “you have to wait to see it like everyone else, but I can tell you that the showing is the last Wednesday of the month, so you can make sure you’re free.”

“Of course I’ll make sure my schedule of open just for you,” I smile, reaching over and taking her hand in mine.

“You said that last time and you ended up being double booked and you couldn’t stay as long.”

“That was before we were a couple, now you’re my girlfriend and things are different.”

“Good to know it took being official to change things.”

“Well, prior to us being official you wouldn’t take my clothes, don’t think I haven’t noticed other things have gone missing, there’s a pair of jeans I’m still looking for.”

“That’s what happens when your girlfriend is the same size as you, you double your wardrobe without even trying. And you have such nice clothes,” she chimes.

“You make a valid point.”

“Thank you,” she smiles, raising her glass of water to me, “how was your meeting this morning?”

“I don’t know, I really didn’t pay attention because I was trying to figure out what happened to my shoes.”

“You couldn’t find your shoes so that stopped you from paying attention?”

“You sound surprised, you should know how I am about my clothes,” I tease.

“I will leave you an itinerary of everything I take that is in your immediate wardrobe.”

“That sounds like a good idea actually.”

“As far as comfortable clothes go, don’t be surprised if you can’t find a hoodie here and there.”

“Fair enough, I don’t have a lot of that kind of clothes anyway,” I say, sticking my tongue out at her playfully.

“Well, before you know it, you may not have any clothes left.”

“You’re the only person that benefits.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m not complaining.”

“You are incorrigible.”

“Are complaining?”

“Not at all,” I say, shaking my head. The rest of lunch was light, as we held casual discussion. There was something about being with Adena that seemed to make time slow down. Being with her was comforting, and made everything going on in my work life, or personal life disappear in an instant.

“Are you going to answer that?” She smiles, nodding at my phone that was faced down on the table.

“Has it been ringing?”

“Yes, it has. You seem to do that a lot when you’re with me.”

“What?”

“Not answer your phone.”

“You’re more interesting than work.”

“Well, that’s great, but if it is work, you should answer.”  
“It may not be that important, someone just wondering where I am,” I say, looking down to see two missed calls from Alex and a text from Sutton asking where I was, “see, Sutton just asking where I am,” I chime, showing Adena. I reply and give her my whereabouts.

“Do we have to bring this to an end?”

“Well, apparently I’ve been gone for well over an hour, so I guess we have to,” I sigh. I flag down our waiter, giving him my card.

“Thank you, for having lunch with me,” Adena chimes as we walk up to the curb.

“Whenever you want to get lunch, don’t hesitate,” I say, stepping into her space, “do you want to come by tonight?”

“I’ll let you know if I’m working late.”

“Okay,” I nod, leaning in to kiss her.

“Actually, do you want to come with me to the MoMA? There’s an exhibit that I want to go see and I would rather go with someone instead of by myself.”

“Of course I’ll go with you, do you want to meet at my place?”

“Okay,” she smiles, leaning in to kiss me again. Every time one of us pulled away the other was going in for another kiss, like magnets.

“I really have to go,” I smile against her lips.

“I’ll see you later.”

“I get off around three if that works for you.”

“I’ll be over by three-thirty,” she smiles before kissing me again.

“See you later. If anything happens I’ll let you know.”

“Okay,” she whispers, kissing me again.

* * *

“Where the hell have you been?” Jane asks through gritted teeth.

“I was having lunch with Adena, what’s your problem?”

“Jacqueline has been asking me where you are, and I could only cover your ass for so long, something is happening in the world of social and she’s on a rampage.”

“KAT!”

“Have fun, I warned you,” Jane says, I rush over to put my things down before making my way into her office.

“Where have you been?”

“I was having lunch with my mom.”

“Have you had a chance to check Twitter during your, two-hour long lunch?” She says, looking down at her watch.

“No, sorry,” I say, looking at my phone now.

“Don’t waste your time, the tweets have been taken down. I suggest you take action and reevaluate your staff, I can give you a week to fire your current assistant and find a new one.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“That’s all,” she says, waving me out of her office.

“What happened?” Sutton asks, coming out of nowhere.

“I have to fire my assistant and hire a new one, apparently some things were tweeted and they were taken down, but I was too busy at lunch to look into it.”

“Oh yeah, that was bad.”

“Great.” I sigh, looking down to see Adena texted me, I smile, replying to her text.

“You shouldn’t let her keep distracting you.”

“She isn’t distracting me.”

“You have to fire your assistant.”

“Right,” I say, fighting the urge to look down at my phone when it chimes.

“She replied didn’t she.”

“It’s a long cab ride back to Brooklyn.”

“Go to HR, get the firing over with and then you can go from there,” Sutton says taking my phone.

“I need that for work.”

“It didn’t matter for the past two hours and it won’t matter for the next twenty minutes, you’ll get it back when you’re done.”

“But what if - ”

“Shut up, and go!” She says, pointing in the direction behind me.

* * *

“Hey,” Adena smiles when I open the door, she walks in and kisses me quickly, “are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, I just need my bag.”

“How was the rest of your day at work?”

“Rough, I had to fire someone today, apparently while we were at lunch a lot of things happened that were bad for business and that’s why my phone was ringing nearly the entire time.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. I enjoy my time with you, I just have to prioritize a bit better.”

“Work should be a number one priority when I want to see you during those hours,” Adena chimes.

“I know, but I like spending my time with you no matter what time of the say it is.”

“Well, then we may not be able to have lunch dates during the week of that’s the case.”

“Are you going to be the more mature one with this topic?” I chime.

“If it means you aren’t putting your job in jeopardy.”

“It was a one-time thing, it was taken care of, and now I have to hire someone new.”

“We aren’t going to avoid the fact that I could have gotten you in trouble.”

“Me being careless would have gotten me in trouble, not you,” I say, kissing her quickly before opening the door to the Uber, allowing for her to get in before me.

“I don’t want you to be careless towards your job,” Adena says, taking my hand in hers.

“I’m not. Everything is fine,” I say quietly, caressing her cheek as I pull her in for a kiss.

“Is that your way of shutting me up?”

“It’s the easiest way I would do it,” I smile, kissing her again, “and the nicest,” I laugh as Adena hums before pulling me in for another kiss. We make out like horny teenagers until our Uber driver is clearing his throat when we pulled in front of the MoMA PS1. We climb out of the car, holding back a laugh, “that’s not going to help my rating,” I chime, wrapping my arm around her shoulder as we walk into the museum. We get our tickets, and Adena leads the way to where she wants to go, seeing as she is most likely here more than me. She says hi to several faces that are familiar to her, all falling into the artsy aesthetic that I didn’t completely understand all that much, “you come here often?” I whisper in her ear playfully, after she says hello to the tenth person. Adena turns, shoving me playfully.

“I enjoy coming here, yes.”

“You seem to be pretty popular.”

“They all know me for my work, they come to small galleries a lot, a few of them are art dealers, the rest were admirers of my work,” she explains as I wrap my arms around her waist.

“A lot of people must admire your work.”

“I would assume so,” she nods, “let’s go, I want to see the Price exhibition,” she says, kissing me quickly before leading the way. We stay as close to each other as possible while we walk through the exhibit, Adena getting lost in the photographs, standing in front of some for longer than others, tilting her head to the side when she finds something interesting. Watching her was more interesting and exciting to me, than seeing the art in front of me. Being with Adena in her element was more thought-provoking than art. Every once and a while she looks at me with a small smile, stealing kisses here and there.

“Adena?” Some woman asks, causing us both to turn in the direction of the voice. A short, slender woman walks over, wrapping Adena in a hug.

“Leila,” Adena says with an even tone, “how are you?”

“I’m good, how are you? It’s been a while.”

“Oh you know, I’m always here and there,” she says, clearly humoring the girl, “Leila, this is my girlfriend, Kat. Kat, this is an old friend of mine, Leila.”

“Nice to meet you,” Leila smiles, holding her hand out for me to shake.

“Likewise,” I say politely. She continues to talk to Adena, much to Adena’s dislike. I watch as she begins to get more annoyed with this, Leila girl. I put my hand on the small of her back, rubbing small circles there, keeping her from getting too tense. Almost as soon as Leila appears, she disappears, “she seems annoying.”

“She is,” Adena chimes.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m not going to let her bother me, being here with you is more important to me than seeing some old friend.”

“Well, I’m happy to hear that,” I chime, leaning in to kiss her. 


	6. Chapter 6

-Adena POV-

I wrap my arms around Kat’s waist, kissing the back of her neck as she stood at the sink, brushing her teeth and getting ready for work, “you’re going to distract me, aren’t you?”

“No, I promise,” I whisper in her ear, “I have to get ready to go anyway, I have to get everything in order for tonight.”

“Are you going to be at the gallery all day?”

“Yes. I am going to be busy all day.”

“Okay, what time do you want me to meet you?”

“It starts at seven-thirty, you can come by around seven-thirty,” I chime, laughing when Kat rolls her eyes.

“Ha, ha. Seriously?”

“You can come by around seven,” I say, leaning in to kiss her softly, “Sutton and Jane, on the other hand, aren’t able to come by until seven-thirty.”

“I’ll let them know. Can we just take a minute to appreciate the fact that you know my friend’s and I are a packaged deal?”

“I figured that the first night I met you in that bar.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, they seemed too overbearing to be normal friends.”

“Good to know,” Kat chimes, leaning in to kiss me, “I’ll see you tonight,” she whispers, kissing me again.

“Okay,” I chime walking her to the door.

“Are we coming back here after tonight or my place?”

“We can come back here, why?”

“I’m going to have to pack a bag, I ran out of clean clothes here.”

“Okay, have a good day at work,” I smile, leaning in to kiss her, “what?”

“Something about this seems very domestic,” Kat laughs.

“Are you not happy about that?”

“It’s new. Something I have to get used to.”

“Okay, go. You’re going to be late,” I say smiling when she leans in to kiss me again.

 

-Kat POV-

I walk into the office building to see Sutton and Jane standing in the lobby waiting for me with coffee, “thank you.”

“Where were you last night?” Jane asks.

“I can give you two guesses, or you can not ask me questions you know that answer to,” I chime sarcastically.

“Someone woke up cranky.”

“No actually, I woke up very nicely.”

“Did Adena wake you up with sex?” Sutton chimes, looking down at her phone before looking up at me with a knowing grin, “nice,” she laughs, giving me a high-five.

“Are you guys coming to her showing tonight?”

“What time is it?”

“Seven-thirty, it’s on The Upper West,” I say as we get into the elevator.

“Yeah, I can go,” Sutton chimes.

“I’ll let you know, Ben gets off of a forty-eight-hour shift tonight and I would like to see him.”

“Well, either way, it’s at seven-thirty and I will see you there.”

* * *

I walk up to the familiar gallery to see Adena standing outside with a smile. I walk up to her, kissing her quickly, “hello.”

“Hey.”

“Ready?”

“If this is a series of landmarks, and you’re hyping it all up for nothing, I may get upset,” I tease, Adena laughs, shaking her head as she leans in and kisses me.

“Okay, let’s go,” she says, waking my hand in hers, lacing our fingers together. She takes my duffle bag and puts it in the small office near the entrance of the gallery, we walk down the narrow hallway before stepping into the open space. There were five photos on the wall, each of them about four feet tall and about two feet wide. Adena stands me in the middle of the room, “what do you see?” Adena whispers in my ear, placing her hand in my left shoulder, leaning her head on her hands.

“In each one individually, or all together?”

“However you want to tell me.”

“I see a face, broken up into five different segments.”

“Good start,” she smiles, “who?”

“Is it me?” I whisper, turning my head to look at the smile on her face, she closes her eyes, nodding slightly.

“Maybe,” she smiles, “I took a photo of you one night, after we…” she trails off with a seductive smile, leaning in and kissing me softly, “There was something about the way your cheeks were that slight shade of scarlet, how you smile at the joke I told you soon after. How your nose crinkles any time you chuckle or giggle. There’s something about you post-climax, there are about ten minutes of you in a state of bliss that I wanted to capture as quickly as possible.”

“That’s why you took my pictures right away,” I chime, feeling Adena turn me to face another wall, “is that another one of me?”

“No, the name of the series is ‘Posts’, you are 'post-climax', our messy bed is 'post-sleep', the half-empty coffee cups 'post-mornings', and so on. The names are horrible, I know. I just really made them up to give you an explanation, but no one else needs to know anything else besides this being a series of post moments.”

“I like it, I think it’s a great idea. It’s open to interpretation if you don’t give the set a proper name.”

“That’s what I was thinking, and that’s why I didn’t give each set a name.” I look around to see about six sets of five photos, one set catches my eye and I walk over to it.

“Is that your bathroom in the morning?”

“And how you leave your makeup all over the place when you’re running late for work, yes. That is the bathroom sink and what it looks like after you rush out in the morning, leaving me to clean up your mess.”

“Sorry,” I chime, recognize the different makeup palettes I use, as well as several brushes and eyeliner, the photo looks as if my makeup bag threw up all over the sink, which was never far off from daily life whether I’m at Adena’s or not. Adena looks at me with a smile, holding me at my waist, and pulling me in for a kiss.

“I’ve been dealing with said mess for a couple of weeks now, it isn’t a big deal.”

“How long is this exhibit?”

“It’s over by ten-thirty, but if you want to leave early, we can sneak away around ten, as long as my manager, Firuze is here.”

“So we’re going to be sneaking out.”

“Okay,” she laughs, kissing me again.

“Adena,” a woman says, walking into the open space, “we are ready.”

“Of course, thank you Firuze. By the way, this is my girlfriend, Kat.”

“Nice to meet you,” the woman says politely with a thick French accent.

“Likewise,” I say politely, shaking her hand.

“I have to go into professional mode, if I disappear I apologize in advance.”

“I understand, I don’t want to get in between your job.”

“Thank you,” Adena chimes, kissing me quickly. The rest of the evening I stayed on the background, letting Adena mingle amongst the patrons, talking to some as if they were old friends, and other as new faces. It was nice seeing her working, pushing her art as well as making connections. After about an hour, I find myself standing in front of one of the photo sets, I feel Adena wrap her arms around my waist, kissing the back of my neck gently, “how are you?” she whispers in my ear.

“I’m good,” I smile, turning in her arms, “how is everything going tonight?”

“Good, I sold a couple of sets, the only one not for sale is of you, of course,” she smiles, kissing me again.

“You’re saving that one for yourself?”

“Yes, I am. All of these people can see that side of you for this moment, broken up into five frames, but not beyond this moment should anyone see you as intimately as I get to.”

“So possessive,” I tease, pulling her in for a kiss.

“Did Jane and Sutton show up?”

“No, Jane wanted to see her boyfriend, and Sutton has to stay at work late.”

“Wonderful,” she whispers, looking around and taking her hand in mine, making her way towards the small office at the front of the gallery.

“Are we leaving?” I ask as she drags me along.

“Well,” she starts, pulling me into the office space, closing the door behind her, “I don’t know about you, but I know that I am slightly frustrated.”

“You want me to get you off now?”

“Are you scared you’ll get caught?” She challenges, sitting on the desk. I walk over to her in two short strides, pulling her in for an aggressive kiss, it was hard and sloppy, something that was different for us, usually, every time we were together, it was soft and seductive. There was something primal in this moment, she tugs my blouse from where it is tucked in the front of my pants in a frantic manner if it wasn’t done _now_ , it wasn’t going to get done. Adena’s fingers are cold when she touches me, causing me to gasp slight and her to stop.

“No, don’t stop,” I whine, pulling her in for a kiss as she works me up to come rather quickly. Something about being caught up on this moment and the thought of getting caught was more of a turn on than I could have ever thought. I moan quietly into her mouth.

“That was quick,” she teases, placing a kiss on my neck.

“Something about this was very hot,” I say, catching my breath.

“I know, that’s partly the reason I did it.”

“Well, you, Ms. El-Amin are something else,” I chime, leaning in to kiss her softly.

“As are you, Ms. Edison,” she smiles, kissing me again, “do you want to go?”

“Please,” I nod, zipping up my pants and tucking my shirt back in, making it look as if I didn’t just have a quickie with my girlfriend in the office of some random art gallery in Manhattan. We sneak out of the gallery hand in hand.

“Do you want to get a bite or just go home?”

“Home, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.” Adena orders and Uber, we wait in front of the gallery hand in hand, she whispers different things in my ear, causing me to laugh loud and fully, only to then whisper something in her language that causes me to stand confused, resulting in her smiling wickedly, only she knows what she told me and she gets off on the fact that I am confused and will never understand her. Once we get back to her apartment, she walks through the door and starting stripping off what she was wearing, not in a sexual way, but more of an annoyed at the outfit type of way. I follow her towards the bedroom area of her open floor plan, studio apartment, putting my bag on the bed and taking out the clothes that were in it. Not long after we started seeing each other sexually, seeing as it was going to be a recurring situation for us, I started leaving clothes at her place and she did the same with mine. Even if some items went missing from the other’s closet, it was still worth having my own personal clothes at her place. I put the few items I brought with me in the bottom drawer of her dresser, seeing as she cleared it out specifically for me, and I did the same for with the bottom shelves of my closet. I watch as she changes into something comfortable, something Adena always had to do when she got home. She was the type of person that, once they were home, they weren’t going out again unless it was for a good reason. “Are you hungry?”

“A little.”

“I’ll make us something light?”

“Do you have any hummus?” I chime, she smiles, knowing full well she has to have homemade hummus at all times ever since she first cooked dinner for me, that being one of the components that I single-handedly ate all of.

“Of course I do, you don’t even have to ask,” she smiles, kissing my cheek. I change into something comfortable before making my way over to the living area, sitting on the floor. She comes over and places a bowl of hummus and a dish of pita chips and some vegetables on the table, taking a seat next to me, “did you enjoy your time tonight?”

“I enjoyed watching you. I know that sounds slightly creepy.”

“It would be more so if we weren’t dating,” she laughs, pouring us each a glass of water.

“Well, it was nice seeing you ar work. Seeing you network.”

“Yeah, that is the professional side to my job, more so than the art.”

“I know. Do you like that part of your job?”

“No, I don’t really enjoy it. I don’t like the critics, I don’t like trying to get my name out that. Firuze takes care of all of that for me, she’s the professional side of the job that I don’t want to be. I make art, that is my job. For the one person that wants to find something they hate about it, there are five people that want to find everything they love about it.”

“Are you worried about your name getting demonized?”

“No, because those people that critique art and want to constantly find the negative in it, are people that are, to me, very angry and negative within themselves. They don’t know how to see the beauty in art at all. Look at the photo of the messy bed, for example, there are people who may think it’s art because it shows the messiness within ourselves and therefore there isn’t a willingness to fix a bed if it’s just going to get messed up again, that could be seen as a melancholy type of issue, but then you have people that may think taking a photo of an unmade bed is laziness, and laziness is something that shows I’m a lazy artist and they could twist it into something it’s not. That’s a long-winded way of saying I could give two shits less,” she smiles, taking a sip of her water.

“You started making art for yourself, and then someone pushed you into doing showing, did they?”

“It was a teacher at Speos, he saw my work and was constantly telling me I should do a showing, and I didn’t want to do it for the longest time. Then I met someone who owned a gallery and then she pushed me into showing with her and I was a hit. So here we are.”

“Was it that one woman… Coco, from the first showing of yours I went to when we first met?” I ask, Adena looks down at her drink and nods, “is there something you aren’t telling me?”

“No, she and I were a couple and it was complicated. We ended things one a weird note,” she says, waving off the conversation.

“You seemed happy from what I remember.”

“She told me a joke, it was the first time I saw her in two years, prior to that I hadn’t seen her and haven’t seen her since then. Kat, I don’t want you to worry about anything like that.”

“Like what?”

“Me cheating on you, or talking to people who aren’t in my life anymore just because. Like when we saw Leila, I haven’t hung out with her in months, and don’t plan on hanging out with her.”

“I don’t want to take you away from your friends,” I say, playing with a pita chip.

“You aren’t taking me away from anyone, those women aren’t friends. They are people who were in my life for a flash of a moment and aren’t going to be in the forefront ever. You are my forefront, I want to get to know you in more ways than Jane and Sutton.”

“You already do, they haven’t willingly seen me naked,” I smile, laughing when Adena rolls her eyes at me, “I’m sorry.”

“I understand this is all still new to you, being with someone, sharing a space with someone, both here and your place, it’s a lot. Especially when you aren’t used to it.”

“I don’t mind it though. I feel as if I like you enough to know that you aren’t going to hurt me.”

“If ever I do hurt you, if you ever feel hurt by something I do, just know it isn’t done intentionally,” she says, caressing my cheek, “I care for you so deeply, Kat,” she whispers, leaning in to kiss me.

“I feel the same for you,” I whisper against her lips, kissing her again.


	7. Chapter 7

-Kat POV-

“I have something to tell you,” Sutton says frantically, pulling me out of my chair.

“What about Jane?”

“She’s out doing an assignment but she knows the news.”

“Is it worth it? I have a meeting in ten minutes.”

“I went on a date last night,” Sutton chimes.

“That’s breaking news, wait, let me call the Times and let them know this needed to be shout from the rooftops!”

“Oh shut up, you would be doing the same thing if you didn’t have a girlfriend.”

“Yeah,” I shrug, taking a seat.

“So, remember how I told you about my ex-girlfriend?”

“Yeah,” I nod, looking down at my phone.

“She DMed me.”

“Oh, really now?”

“Yeah, I know it was weird.”

“Why didn’t you tell me as soon as it happened?”

“I tried calling you last night, but I’m assuming you had better things going on.”

“Yeah, Adena and I tried something new.”

“Ooh, la, la. Anyway, so Sara messaged me on Instagram, and we got to talking, and I have a date with her tonight.”

“Wait, what?”

“Sara, ex, me, her, date.”

“A casual date, I’m assuming.”

“Coffee, we’re getting coffee. I found out that she actually works across the street.”

“Was she happy to hear from you?”

“She was shocked that I answered.”

“How did she find you?”

“She’s friends with someone I took a picture with on Instagram. Her friend works in the fashion department and tagged me in a picture.”

“Well, that’s good. Is it good?”

“We didn’t end things on a bad note, she was transferring out of Penn State and was going back home to Maine at the time.”

“Are you happy?”

“I don’t know how I’ll feel until I see her again.”

“Yeah,” I say, looking down to see Adena was calling me, “I hope everything works out. I have to take this.”

“Go talk to your girlfriend,” Sutton says, waving me off.

“Hey,” I say, answering the phone as I walk out of the closet.

“Kat.”

“What’s wrong?”

“My father died,” she says barely above a whisper, “I have to go home, I’m taking the last flight out tonight.”

“D-do you want me to come with you?” I ask, making my way over to my desk, ready to book a flight.

“Kat, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“I told you why I originally left my country, there is a large stance against homosexuality and my parents were never really on board with me being a lesbian. They don’t support it, it’s shameful. I don’t know if I want to subject my mother to that right after her husband has died.”

“I understand. H-how long are you going to be gone?”

“A couple of weeks,” she says solemnly, “look, you know I would tell you to come with me if things were different if my situation was different. It’s not like I’m just going to New Jersey or something like that, I have to go back to Iran, it’s a very stressful thing on many different levels. Even if the funeral was in the states, I wouldn’t want you to tag along, it isn’t the right place to introduce you as my girlfriend.”

“I get it, just have a safe trip, when is your flight?”

“The last flight leaves around eight, I have to be at the airport around seven I would say, if not sooner, so I won’t be able to see you.”

“It’s okay, you know I will be here when you get back,” I chime, hearing her let out a soft chuckle.

“I know, I would like to see you.”

“Meet me at that coffee shop on Broadway and Fulton, the one down from my office.”

“Okay, I can be there in twenty minutes.”

“Perfect, I’ll see you then." 

* * *

"I didn’t mean to sound rude about not wanting you to come with me,” Adena says, playing with the lid of her cup.

“I understand where you are coming from though, it’s okay,” I smile, reaching over and touching her hand.

“I’m not ashamed of you, or anything like that. I just don’t want to put you through the ridicule that could come along with bringing you home with me. I care for you so deeply, Kat. I don’t want ignorance or misunderstanding from my family to come between us.”

“Adena, you don’t have to explain yourself to me, you don’t. I want you to go, be safe, and come back. A gift wouldn’t be bad either,” I tease, causing her to roll her eyes at me.

“I will bring you back something,” she says with a small smile. Adena walks me back to the office, her arm linked with mine as we reach the lobby of the building.

“I will see you in a couple of weeks,” I say, pulling her in for a hug.

“I will call you often, you know that, and text you.”

“I would be concerned if you didn’t.”

“Just wait for me to call, I really don’t know what to expect with a lot of things.”

“I understand,” I say, leaning in to kiss her. She pulls back, looking at me with adoration as she holds back a bit. I can see in her eyes what she wants to say to me, only because I want to say it to her, but it is too soon. We both know it’s too soon to profess such a thing to each other, regardless of the type of relationship we have, it isn’t the right time to confirm and confess those feelings. What I wouldn’t do to say it, but at the same time, I know that I don’t want to risk backlash or mixed emotions. I have never felt this way for someone before, but confessing and professing love is something I don’t know if I’m fully ready for.

“I have to go,” Adena whispers when she pulls away.

“Okay, let me know when you land, I don’t care what time it is, I just need to know you got there safe.”

“Of course, Baby.”

“Safe travels.”

“Before I go, I want to give you this,” She says, reaching into her bag, “take care of my houseplants,” she smiles, handing me a brass key.

“Is this exclusively for your houseplants?”

“When I come back, I wouldn’t object to you using it whenever you want to,” she smiles.

“Okay,” I chime, leaning in to kiss her.

* * *

“Here we see a lonely Kat Edison, sitting on our couch, pining away at the fact that her girlfriend has been gone for a total of, twenty-four hours,” Sutton says, doing her best Steve Irwin impression as she hands me a glass of wine.

“I don’t know how I’ll last two weeks,” I say, sitting up straighter and resting my head on the back of the couch, “how was your coffee date by the way? I need a distraction.”

“It was nice, she’s still as hot as ever, but she’s with someone and it’s pretty serious,” Sutton shrugs.

“Sorry?”

“It’s okay, I didn’t see it becoming anything, or going back to being anything.”

“When is it okay to tell someone you love them?” I ask as Jane enters the living room from her bedroom, seeing as I want both opinions.

“Well, I’ve been seeing Ben for about a year now, and it took me six months to tell him I loved him.”

“I never told anyone I love them and meant it. There is only a handful of times I meant it.”

“I feel like I love Adena, but I don’t know if we’re at a place to say it to each other yet,” I sigh, “I wanted to tell her before she left, but I didn’t know if she would feel the same, or if she would reject the thought. I don’t know where she stands.”

“Maybe she loves you, and feels the same way,” Jane chimes, resting her legs over my lap.

“She gave me the key to her apartment, she wants me to water her plants.”

“Well I wouldn’t give someone the key to my apartment if I wasn’t in love with them,” Sutton chimes, “the way you two are with each other, it’s obvious how crazy you are for each other, she has to be in love with you.”

“You’re probably right,” I say, biting my lip. I smile when my phone starts ringing, knowing it was Adena, “Hey.”

“Hey,” Adena says quietly.

“Is everything okay?” I ask, getting up from the couch and going over to the bathroom to get some privacy.

“Yeah, it’s just morbid. I miss you.”

“I miss you too, Baby.”

“I don’t like being here,” she says in a hushed tone.

“I’m not surprised. Is the funeral and everything taken care of?”

“Yeah, yesterday was the funeral, that’s why I couldn’t call you. I missed your voice.”

“I missed yours too,” I smile, “I miss you.”

“I would be shocked if you didn’t,” she laughs. Someone calls out to her in the background, she speaks in Farsi before sighing.

“What is it?”

“I have to go, my mother wants me.”

“Okay, when are you coming home?”

“A week from tomorrow, the fifth I think it is. My flight gets in late.”

“Okay,”

“I would like to see you that night.”

“Well, how late do you get in?”

“I land around midnight, it’s a Friday though, you don’t have work the next day.”

“Even if I did I would want to see you,” I smile. The line gets silent for a moment, but I can hear the light sounds of Adena breathing, “are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Okay, bye Adena.”

“Bye, Kat,” she whispers, hanging up the phone. I sigh, walking back into the living room to see Sutton and Jane getting ready to watch a movie.

“What’s wrong?” Sutton asks, opening her arms for me. I flop down beside her and lie across both of them, my head in Jane’s lap.

“She hesitated. I can tell she wanted to say it, but it would be shitty for her to say it when she’s halfway across the earth.”

“You have it bad, don’t you?” Jane chimes, running her fingers through my hair. I look up at her and nod, feeling my eyes well up with tears, “why are you crying?” she coos, as I cover my face, taking a deep breath.

“I don’t know,” I whine.

“It’s okay to love her,” Sutton says, patting my leg.

“It isn’t about that, I know it’s okay. I just never thought I would ever feel so strongly for someone. I never thought I would be in love with someone, let alone a woman,” I explain, “it’s all so overwhelming.”

“Love it an overwhelming emotion, there isn’t anything about love that’s really fun, it’s a whirlwind of emotions packed into one simple word,” Sutton says.

“You’re right.”

“So, when she gets back, tell her how you feel.”

“I will.”

 

-Adena POV-

I walk through the door of my apartment and yawn, the two weeks in Iran just as tiring as the flight home. I leave my suitcase by the door, worrying about it tomorrow. I take off my coat and hijab before making my way down the very short hallway. I walk into the kitchen getting myself a glass of water, smiling when I see a bouquet of flowers on the counter, a balloon reading ‘Welcome Home’ tied to the vase. I see something move out of the corner of my eye, I look to see Kat was lying on top of my bed, almost as if she didn’t intend on falling asleep, I walk over sitting down and running my fingers through her hair, she opens her eyes with a sleepy smile. “Hey, sorry I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“It’s okay,” I whisper, leaning in to kiss her, “are you going to stay?”

“Of course,” she says through a yawn.

“I’m going to change quickly, I think you should too, that skirt doesn’t look comfortable.” We both change, I go to the bathroom, washing up before getting into bed when I see Kat’s reflection in the mirror while I brush my teeth, she smiles, wrapping her arms around my waist and kissing my neck.

“I missed you,” she whispers in my ear, resting her chin on my shoulder as I finish up. I turn in her arms, resting my hands on her shoulders, smiling as I pull her in for a proper kiss.

“I missed you too,” I mumble against her lips, leading her out of the bathroom and over to the bed without breaking the kiss. Kat sits on the bed as soon as the back of her legs touch it. I fall with her, straddling her lap as she holds me closer.

“I love you,” she murmurs, resting her forehead against mine. I pull back, holding her face in my hands, I watch as every emotion crosses her eyes, fear being the one that was most prominent. “I feel like I’m at a place where I can say it without feeling as if it isn’t right. I feel we’re in a place where you, hopefully, feel the same way…” she sounds unsure and regretful, the longer it takes me to say it back. I can’t help but smile, leaning in and kissing her deeply, pushing her onto her back.

“I love you, too,” I whisper, feeling her body relax under me.

“You do?” she smiles, holding me as close as possible.

“Of course, I - I’ve known for a while. I’ve felt it for a while.”

“So have I. I was just waiting for the right time, and with you going away, I knew that when you were back I was going to tell you, it was the right time,” she smiles, pulling me in for a kiss. 


	8. Chapter 8

-Kat POV-

I sit up and see Adena walking over to me with a cup of coffee, “good morning,” she chimes, handing me the mug and kissing me sweetly.

“Morning, how was your trip?”

“Bittersweet. It was nice to see my family, but at the same time, it was sad that he died.”

“How did he die?”

“Apparently he had cancer, and no one thought to tell me.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, reaching over and placing my hand on her knee.

“It is what it is, apparently it was quick, within a few months.”

“It’s still sad, were you close to your dad?”

“A little, but not very. When I decided to leave he was a little upset, then when I wrote them telling them I met a woman and was finding my sexuality, he was put off by that.”

“Are you an only child?”

“Yeah, so I guess my sexuality came as a shock to them on different levels, seeing as they didn’t have another kid to look to for whatever it is parents expect from their children. Our faith didn’t help them either.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m here with you, the person I love and I’m happy,” she smiles, leaning in to kiss me.

“I love you,” I whisper.

“I love you, too.” Adena gets up from the bed, going over to the door where she left her bags last night, she gets her bag and comes back over to the bed, “I brought you something.”

“Ooh, yay,” I chime, putting my coffee cup on the nightstand as she goes through her bag.

“I have a few more things, but I had to ship them here, seeing as I wanted a few things from home.”

“Thank you,” I smile, leaning in to kiss her as she hands me a small box, I open it with a smile, seeing a pair of diamond earrings, “uh, Babe?”

“Yes,” Adena says, still digging through her bag.

“I love these and I’m grateful, but my ears aren’t pierced.”

“Oh, sorry. Those are mine.”

“Okay,” I chuckle.

“This is yours,” she smiles, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Thank you,” I smile as she leans in and kisses me softly, “are they earrings?”

“No, just open it.” I smile, doing what I’m told, opening the box to reveal a small diamond ring. I look up at Adena with wide eyes.

“I’m not proposing!” She says quickly, “I don’t want to sound rude, but it isn’t even a promise ring. In the Middle East, blood diamonds are a fairly common thing. The whole story behind them is horrible, I know, but that’s what this is. If you decided to get it appraised it would probably be valued at more than what I paid for it.”

“It is beautiful, thank you,” I smile, slipping it onto my finger and holding it up, watching as it sparkled in the sunlight that was coming through the window, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ring sparkle that much.”

“I’m happy you like it, and like I said before, there are still other things coming, hopefully, this week. I shipped everything out yesterday, so.”

“Okay.”

“Do you have plans for today?”

“I don’t, I wanted to spend my day with you,” I say, pulling her back to lie down on the bed.

“And I just want to be here all day, I have to do laundry and I took some photos of course when I went back home.”

“I would have been concerned if you didn’t.”

“I’d have to leave this bed though.”

“You don’t have to leave it yet,” I chime, kissing her neck.

“But we can do this later,” she chimes, getting out of my hold and kissing me quickly. “Let me start my laundry, and get my pictures downloaded, then I’ll come back.”

“You’re giving me permission to stay in bed all day?”

“Yes,” she smiles, kissing me softly, “consider yourself lucky, you know I hate staying in bed all day.”

“Oh I do, especially because your bed is by far the most comfortable bed I’ve ever been in, besides my own, and I hate getting out of it prematurely.”

“How many beds have you been in?” Adena chimes, dragging her suitcase over to the small closet behind the kitchen the housed her washer and dryer.

“In what context, I know that’s a loaded question,” I say, taking a sip of my now cooled cup of coffee.

“People you’ve slept with.”

“How many people have you slept with?”

“I asked you first.”

“You’re the first woman I’ve ever slept with,” I chime, cocking my head to the side and laughing at the unamused look on Adena’s face.

“Although I’m honored, I would like to know.”

“A few, I don’t know how many exactly, a lot of one night stands, that was all in college though,” I shrug, “how about you?”

“Seventeen.”

“Seventeen? You have an exact number.”

“Yes, I do. You are lucky eighteen.”

“I’m the eighteenth person you’ve had sex with?”

“Is that shocking?”

“No, you’re your own person, I’m just surprised.”

“Did you think the number was higher?”

“Is it bad if I say yes?”

“No, I could see why you would think that,” Adena says coming over to lie down beside me, “I know now that I’m ready to put that part of my life behind me and just be.”

“Were they all women?”

“Yes,” she chimes, running her fingers through my hair, “about ten of them French, seeing as I spent most of my time there, one was Dutch, the woman I first fell in love with. A few were South African. The rest were here in New York.”

“You aren’t ashamed of your sex life.”

“Are you?”

“No, I’m ashamed that I don’t remember a lot of it,” I say, looking down.

“I don’t drink, that’s why I remember, trust me, I wish I didn’t remember all of those times.”

“Well, that makes sense,” I laugh, knowing full well the only reason I slept with half of the people I’ve slept with was due to alcohol, “have you ever had sex with a strap-on?”

“Oh we’re going to get into it, now aren’t we?” Adena laughs.

“Well, yes, we’re going there.”

“Would you like more coffee before we continue?” She asks, getting off of the bed, she takes the coffee cup I was drinking out of, does over and fills it again. Adena walks back over, handing me my coffee before going back to her spot on the bed. “I have, yes.”

“Did you like it?”

“Well…” She trails off, all of a sudden slightly embarrassed.

“You did, didn’t you?” I tease.

“I didn’t like to use it when I topped.”

“You weren’t the fucker, you got fucked.”

“That’s a direct way of saying it,” Adena laughs.

“Would you ever want to bring that into our sex life?”

“If it’s something you are interested in and want to do then we can look into it. I don’t want you to feel forced into it.”

“I’m not,” I say, shaking my head, reaching over to take her hand in mine, “I’m curious about it.”

“Well, just know that if we did introduce this, I don’t like to top.”

“That is something that can easily be arranged,” I smile, leaning in to kiss her.

“I love you,” Adena whispers against my lips.

“How many people have you said that to?” I ask, looking into her eyes to see them soften.

“Two,” she smiles, taking my hand in hers, playing with my fingers, “the first woman I was ever with, I was twenty. It was when I was in Amsterdam, she was also the first woman I ever had sex with. The second woman I ever said it to was here in New York, she’s this confident, black woman. Very successful, a department head at twenty-five.”

“Very nice,” I laugh, playing along with her as she chuckles and leans in to kiss me, “she seems like a catch.”

“Oh, she is. I never felt so lucky to be with her.”

“I bet she feels the same way.”

“I hope so,” she whispers, kissing me again. She moves to straddle my waist, pushing me back into the pillows. I feel Adena roll her hips against mine, playing with the hem of my shirt, pulling it over my head.

“Wait, what about this super successful girl of yours?” I tease, causing her to let out a deep laugh before pulling me in for a kiss.

“You’re funny,” she whispers, playing with the top of my panties.

“You love it.”

“When the time is right.”

“That time isn’t now?” I tease, moaning as she begins to tease me.

“Stop talking,” she whispers in my ear.

“I thought you didn’t like topping?” I chime, causing her to put her free hand over my mouth as she works me up.

* * *

I look over to see Adena working at her desk. I reach over and find my shirt on the floor as well as a pair of panties from before. I slip them on, walking over to Adena and wrapping my arms around her shoulder, “have a nice nap?” She asks, looking over her shoulder.

“Yes,” I say, kissing the side of her head, “thank you.”

“Anything for you, I missed you.”

“I missed you too, but apparently you missed me a bit more,” I chime, looking at the photos she was editing, “is that home?”

“Yeah,” she sighs, pulling me into her lap.

“Iran touches water?” I ask, “I know, that sounds ignorant, but I haven’t looked at a world map since high school.”

“The Persian Gulf, that’s where this picture is from. My family lives in a city that’s on the Gulf. When I grew up I was always by the water, I loved it.”

“Is that why you like walking near the river and going to Coney Island?”

“Yeah. I like going to the water, it’s calming.”

“Have you ever been to the Hamptons?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“We should go one weekend. Not now, the weather is getting too cold, but in the summer.”

“I would like that,” Adena smiles, as she continues looking through her photos.

“Are you going to show these?”

“Maybe, I never did one of the pictures from home,” she says quietly.

“You should, it is a part of you, being from the Middle East. It’s one thing to be Muslim, granted, it’s another to be born and raised in the Middle East until you were seventeen.”

“You’re right, maybe I’ll consider it. I took a fair amount of pictures.”

“Do you have any of your family?” I ask, running my fingers through her hair.

“Not from this trip,” she says, shaking her head, “I do have them somewhere, if you want to look, I’d have to find them.”

“One day.”

“So what about your family? Seeing as we’re sharing…” She smiles, holding me close.

“My parents are psychiatrists, I was born and raised in Connecticut. An only child. I came to school in the city. Nothing exciting,” I shrug, “my mother is white, he name is Susan. My father is black, his name is Marcus.”

“You didn’t have to specify your parents’ races.”

“I know, but I feel like it should be pointed out.”

“Have you told them about me?”

“Yes, I have,” I nod and smile as I lean in to kiss her.

“How do they feel?”

“About me dating a woman, they don’t mind. They’re happy I found someone to make me happy. I only told them when we became official, not prior to that.”

“They are happy and supportive, that’s all that matters.”

“Yes, they are,”

“I would like to meet them if that’s okay with you?”

“We can set something up. I’ll call them tomorrow, I just still want to be with you.”

“Of course,” She smiles, kissing me softly.


	9. Chapter 9

-Kat POV-

I pace back and forth in my kitchen before Adena grabs me by my shoulders, “Sweetheart, calm down.”

“I’m okay.”

“Kat, relax,” she whispers, kissing me softly.

“We should have gone out to dinner, I don’t know why I invited them here.”

“Why are you so nervous?” Adena laughs.

“I’ve never done this before, I’ve never been with someone long enough or serious enough to meet my parents.”

“Everything will be okay, you said they don’t mind the fact that you are dating a woman so that right there is something okay,” she says, holding me close, “Everything will be okay,” she pulls me in for a kiss before whispering something in my ear in Farsi.

“What does that mean?” I whisper, smiling as I always did when she spoke in her language.

“You worry too much of things that don’t matter.”

“Is that your way of telling me to shut up?”

“Pretty much,” she smiles, leaning in to kiss me when there was a knock on the door,  
“Get the door and then you should have a drink.”

“Okay,” I chuckle, kissing her again before going to the door. I walk over and open the door to see my mom and dad standing there with smiles on their faces.

“Hello, Sweetheart,” Mom chimes, pulling me in for a hug. I greet my parents as we walk into my apartment, Adena was standing by the table with a shy smile, “Mom, Dad this is Adena.”

“It is very nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Edison.”

“Please, call me Marcus.”

“And call me Susan, it is very nice to meet you Adena.”

“Nice to meet you both, can I get either of you something to drink?”

“The bottle of white is for dinner, if you want to open the red, they’re in the fridge,” I say watching Adena take my lead.

“Kat, do you want a glass?”

“No, I’ll have water though,” I smile, Adena raises her eyebrows in slight confusion. I fall into conversation with my parents as far as catching up with them. Adena walks over and places a tray of drinks on the coffee table before sitting down beside me on the couch.

“You really don’t want a drink?” She whispers in my ear.

“No, I’m okay,” I say, placing my hand on her knee and kissing her cheek.

“So, Adena,” my dad says, taking a sip from his wine glass, “Kat says you’re a photographer?”

“Yes, I studied at Speos in France, and have had several successful gallery showings,” Adena says, grabbing one of her books from under the coffee table, “if you want to look through it,” she smiles, handing him the book.

“That book is from her most recent showing,” I chime, knowing it contained photos that were about me.

“This is a beautiful picture of Kat,” my mom chimes.

“Adena was just finished telling me a joke and I couldn’t stop laughing for ten minutes,” I say, covering up the fact that it was taken just after we had sex.

“You’re great at your craft, Adena,” my dad chimes.

“Thank you, I have others if you ever want to look at more.”

“What made you choose photography?”

“I was traveling. In my twenties, I did a lot of traveling, and once I decided to go to South Africa, and I fell in love with it. I decided to take a leap and I applied to Speos when I went back to France for the third time.”

“You went to France three times?” My mother chimes, “that’s impressive.”

“I fell in love with it the first time I went, when I left home I found a new one in France for the time being. Until I moved to New York, then I chose to call this home,” she says with a smile as she looks over at me.

“Where did you grow up?” Dad asks, sitting back a bit.

“I was born in Iran, I lived there until I was seventeen.”

“You felt like you were old enough to leave at seventeen?”

“Well, people feel like that are old enough to leave home at eighteen, and yet they aren’t mature enough to make it on their own. I wanted to see the world and would have done anything to achieve that, even if it meant leaving home before I was ready, or at least people think or assume I wasn’t ready, but I was.”

“This is oddly turning into an analysis, isn’t it?” I say, feeling Adena take my hand in hers.

“It’s okay,” she whispers in my ear.

“Are you sure?”

“I have nothing to hide.” I look over to see my dad watching us carefully while my mom watched us with a smile.

“My husband can analyze you all he wants, I can see that both of you are happy and in a very healthy relationship.”

“I just want to make sure my daughter is with someone who is going to treat her right and respect her, if that means I have to look deeper into your mind and put my degree to work, then that’s what’s going to happen, and from what I can see, you are very well rounded. You have done things in your life to better it and make the most of it, you found something that makes you happy and made a career out of it, you are wonderful at it. I feel like you are good enough for Kat, and I also know Kat will make the right choices for her, and if she wasn’t ready to be with someone or wasn’t feeling it when she met you, we wouldn’t be sitting here meeting you. I know my daughter, and if she likes you enough to introduce you to us, then I know there is nothing to worry about.”

“Thank you, Marcus. Just know that I respect and care for Kat deeply, and I don’t plan on messing that up,” Adena smiles, leaning in kissing me quickly.

“On that note, let’s eat,” I say, getting up and walking over to the table. The rest of the evening was spent with Adena telling stories from her travels and answering all of my dad’s questions while I catch up with my mother. “I’m going to walk them out,” I say, walking up behind Adena.

“Okay,” she smiles, turning to kiss me quickly. I follow my parents out into the hallway.

“So.”

“She’s wonderful,” Mom chimes, pulling me into a hug, “I’m happy you found someone who makes you happy.”

“Dad?”

“She’s a very nice woman like I said earlier, I’m happy you found someone who is well rounded.”

“Thank you,” I say, giving him a hug. I walk back into the apartment to see Adena was finished with cleaning everything up and was in the bathroom getting ready to shower. I lean against the door frame, watching as she makes a show of taking off her clothes, knowing I was watching her, “they like you.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. They like you a lot,” I chime, walking into the bathroom.

“Are you going to keep talking about your parents, or are you going to join me?” She asks, turning to face me with a smile on her face.

“So forward,” I tease, pulling my shirt over my head.

“I’ve held it together for three hours…”

“So have I,” I whisper, kissing her as I step into the shower. She pushes me against the wall, kissing down my neck and across my chest.

“Remember what we talked about the other day?”

“Remind me? We talk about a lot of things,” I whine as she continues kissing my neck.

“About bringing toys into our sex life.”

“Yeah,”

“I have a surprise for you,” she chimes, pushing her fingers into me, causing me to moan against her cheek, “it will be better than this,” she adds, pumping her fingers at a slow pace.

“You don’t top with toys,” I say with a grin, laughing when she rolls her eyes at me before she kisses me hard. I roll my hips to the rhythm of her fingers, much to the enjoyment of Adena. “Fuck, Adena.”

“Are you ready to come?” Adena mumbles in my ear, she was never one to tease, she was always rather straightforward when it came to our sex life, but lately, she was getting into the habit of teasing me to orgasm and I becoming a sucker to her teasing.

“No, not yet, I want more.”

“More of what, Baby?”

“Faster,” I moan, “go a bit faster,” I gasp as she does what I ask, “fuck.”

“Come for me,” she murmurs, my body reacting to her request before I had the chance to process it.

“Oh, God!”

“Good girl.”

“I love you,” I say, as she works me down from my high.

“I love you, Baby,” she says with a husky tone, her accent thicker than normal before she pulls me in for a deep kiss.  
“Did you plan on actually showering?” I tease when I finally catch my breath.

“I did, but I may have to shower again anyway.”

“So will I,” I laugh, kissing her quickly. We actually shower, helping each other get washed, while we steal kisses here and there. Once we’re finished, Adena steps out first, drying herself quickly before pulling on her black silk robe, making her way out of the bathroom. I follow her out wrapped in a towel to see her sitting at the end of the bed, her legs crossing and leaning back slightly with a smirk on her face. “What?”

“Do you want to try it?”

“If I would have known that you meeting my parents would have turned you on this much, I would have done it sooner,” I tease, laughing when she rolls her eyes at me.

“That isn’t it.”

“Then what it is?”

“You, just you. I’ve never been so sexually attracted to someone.”

“So you weren’t into your seventeen other partners.”

“Not to the same degree I’m into you,” she says, getting up from the bed, walking over and pulling me by the hips.

“Am I the best you’ve ever had?”

“Haven’t we discussed this?”

“Remind me if we have.”

“You are the best I’ve ever had, yes.” She says, pulling me in for a kiss.

“I love an ego boost,” I tease.

“Almost as much as you love me.”

“Duh.”

“Do you want to or not?”

“Yeah, I’m not going to lie, I am nervous.”

“Don’t be, everything will be fine,” she says, pulling me in for a kiss, “it’s upstairs on the shelf in your closet, the black box.”

“Ooh, sexy. A black box,” I tease, wiggling my eyebrows.

“Go, you’re wasting time,” she says, kissing me quickly before patting my ass. I make my way upstairs and take a deep breath, calming my nerves before opening the box.

“Why did you pick blue?” I ask, laughing as I hold it up by the leather strap, looking down to see her on my bed.

“I thought it would be better than a flesh tone, or black.”

“This is you being playful?”

“Of course,” she shrugs, getting off the bed and untying her robe and letting it fall around her feet, “don’t keep me waiting.”

“Can I take a shot?”

“Are you asking permission? You can do whatever you want to,” she says. I make my way downstairs, dropping the item onto the bed before making my way over to the fridge, getting the bottle of vodka from the freezer, pouring myself a shot. “Are you that nervous?”

“Yes,” I say, downing the shot and going back over to her. I let my towel fall, picking up the harness and stepping into it, securing it around my hips, all while Adena watches me intently. “It’s on,” I giggle, looking down to see the dark blue dildo wiggle a bit.

“Come here,” Adena says, as she leans back against the pillows. I do as I’m told, hovering over her as she leans up to kiss me, I feel her pulling at it, looking down to see she was lathering it with some lube, “ready?”

“Yeah,” I nod, feeling her guide the toy into her. She gasps for a moment, moving her hands to my back, I give her a moment before pushing in the rest of the way, holding my breath until my hips meet with hers, letting out a sigh as she lets out a moan and grips my back hard. I start with slow thrusts, allowing for both of us to get used to it. Adena’s nails scratch at my back as I pick up my thrusts, building a rhythm that she was benefiting from. “You like that?”

“Yeah,” she moans, nodding her head as she moves to sit up a bit, kissing me deeply as she pushes me onto my back. I move my hands to her hips, moving with her as I look up at her, realizing she was getting lost in her movements. She lets out short moans, as she rides me harder.

“I thought you didn’t top,” I tease, looking up at Adena with a smile as she shoots me a playful smirk.

“I don’t like the extra appendage, but I know how to enjoy it,” she says with a rushed tone.

“I can see that,” I chime, reaching up to grab her breasts, playing with her nipples, causing her to moan loudly.

“I love you.”

“Come for me?” I ask, sitting up and holding her close as I start kissing her neck. Adena wraps her arms around me, holding me tight as she comes with a loud moan, as she speaks in her language, something she always did when she climaxed. I brush the hair away from her face as best as I could, seeing as it was stuck to her clammy forehead and cheeks, once she catches her breath she opens her eye and smiles. A dopey grin on her face as she leans in and kisses me softly.

“I’m thoroughly pleased that we decided to bring this into our sex life,” she says, still slightly out of breath.

“As am I,” I say, kissing her again. We move together as she lies back down before she guides the toy out, moaning at the loss of contact. I clean up the toy, taking off the harness before going to clean up Adena, resulting in her coming twice more. She pulls me in for a kiss, moaning as she tastes herself on my lips before she curls into my side and rests her head on my chest. I kiss her forehead, running my fingers through her hair, smiling when I hear her breath even out a bit, falling asleep soon after.

* * *

I wake up the next morning to see Adena wasn’t in bed and was nowhere to be found. I get out of bed, pulling up Adena’s robe that was still on the floor from the night before and go into the kitchen to see there were fresh coffee and a note.

_I had to leave a bit early, meeting with some galleries. I enjoyed last night, and can’t wait to see you again tonight. I love you. Call me. -Adena_

I pour myself a cup of coffee, looking at the time to see I still had some time before I had to get ready. I go over and grab my phone to call Adena, “Hey, Baby,” she chimes.

“You did the walk of shame?”

“I wouldn’t call it that, seeing as I have clothes at your place, and took a shower. I’m sorry I left before you though, I almost forgot I had an early meeting.”

“It’s okay.”

“Are you going to come back to my place tonight?”

“Probably, why?”

“I have a Scarlet party to go to, are you going to come with me?”

“I don’t see why not. Do you want me to come by when I’m done with my day and then we’ll leave from there?”

“That sounds good,” I chime.

“Okay, I have to go, I’m at the first of several galleries today. I love you and I’ll call you around lunch.”

“Okay, bye, Love.”

“Bye.”


	10. Chapter 10

-Adena POV-

I wake up to the soft sensation of Kat kissing my bare shoulder and neck. “Good morning,” I mumbled, kissing her hand that I apparently took hold of some time in the night.

“Good morning,” she whispers, kissing me when I turn on her arms to face her, “have I ever told you how beautiful you are in the morning?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, you are, so beautiful in the morning,” she says sleepily, closing her eyes again.

“Are you going to sleep, Baby?”

“Still waking up,” she hums.

“Do you want coffee.”

“After you pray.”

“Of course,” I smile, kissing her forehead. I get out of bed and pick up a shirt from the floor, pulling it on and looking at Kat with a smile as she falls back to sleep.

“Not sleeping,” she mumbles.

“You can sleep.”

“Love you.”

“I love you too.”

 

-Kat POV-

I wake up to the smell of coffee, opening my eyes and sitting up to see Adena working at her desk. I smile, getting out of bed and walking over to wrap my arms around her shoulders, kissing the side of her head. “Hey, Love.”

“Hey,” I whisper, resting my chin on her shoulder, “you’ve been taking photos of topless women?”

“You’re the only woman I care about, so don’t worry. I want to do a gallery showing where the money goes to breast cancer research. I am unaffected by the breasts I’ve photographed, besides, you have the most perfect pair I’ve ever seen,” she says with a smile.

“I only have men’s breasts to compare yours to, but I can say, yours are my favorite.”

“Thank you,” she chuckles, leaning in to kiss me, “there’s fresh coffee in the pot. You fell back to sleep.”

“I know. I’m just happy to have a Monday off, I took advantage.”

“I know, Baby.” I walk over and fix myself a cup of coffee. “Do you want to come with me to the studio today?” She asks, looking up at me and cocking her head to the side, “you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I just want you to know the offer is there if you want to come and hang out while I work.”

“Yeah, I would like to see your work. Are you going to be taking photos of topless women?”

“Not today, I’m going to finish editing these and I need to print them out.”

“You do all of that yourself?”

“Of course, I learned how to do it all for a reason, I don’t want anyone seeing my working and letting it get out. People in the art world like to leak things,” she says, rolling her eyes, “I could use your help.”

“So you’re using me for free labor?”

“I think you know how I would repay you,” she chimes, pulling me in for a kiss.

“I’m happy to help then,” I whisper, kissing her again.

* * *

I follow Adena into her studio, seeing just the how she works for the first time, it was an enormously empty space aside from the corner where there were different types of equipment, printers that printed all sizes, monitors to computers and different type of cameras littered tables and shelves close to that area, “you look overwhelmed,” she laughs.

“I thought you only shot in digital,” I say, pointing out the different cameras.

“I prefer digital for every day if I’m out and about photographing, it’s a lot easier. But when I’m here I shoot with all different cameras. I like the old school approach a bit better sometimes. I did a who showing of Polaroids once, but that was a long time ago. I may do that again.”

“The shoot you did with me would have been great through Polaroid.”

“If I did do that style again, I would only want it to be of you. Polaroids have a certain appeal to them that makes them more intimate and personal than say a standard digital photo.”

“So what are we doing today?”

“We are,” She starts, taking her bag off of her shoulder and rolling a cart to the end of a table that was currently unoccupied by anything, “print stuff,” she smiles kissing my cheek when I walk up beside her.

“I’m here to listen and follow what you ask of me.”

“And it will be greatly appreciated, trust me,” she smiles, leaning in to kiss me. The day was spent printing out photos that were about two feet by two feet of strange women’s breasts.

“Do you have enough?” I tease, causing her to look at me curiously.

“Are you offering your body to art?”

“That sounded more suggestive than it needed to,” I laugh, causing her to turn a slight shade of pink, “but if you need to, I’ll do it. The money goes to charity, right?”

“That’s what I plan on doing, so…”

“I’ll let you take a picture of my boobs for a good cause,” I shrug, pulling my shirt over my head. I hear Adena gasp slightly at the sight of me not wearing a bra, causing me to smirk, “have I ever told you that I love the effect I have on you?”

“No, but I also know that without you having to tell me,” she chimes, setting up her camera on the tripod.

“I love you,” I smile, watching the shy smile form on her face as she cocks her head to the side.

“I love you too,” she chimes, walking over to me and kissing me softly, “ready?”

“As ever.”

“Go stand in front of the grey backdrop.” I do what Adena asks, smiling as I see her go into her professional mode, “stand up straight, shoulders back,” she says, taking a few photos with her digital camera. She takes it from her eye and looks at the screen with a smile.

“Good?”

“Of course, but don’t move,” she says, going over to the cameras on the shelves, taking down one that looked older than she and I put together.

“What’s that one?”

“It’s a medium format camera,” she says, looking down into the camera as she takes a picture, “it’s kind of like a Polaroid but it isn’t instant.”

“Oh, okay. Are these for you?” I laugh, causing her to smile.

“For us,” she shrugs playfully.

“So for you?” I smile.

“Am I not allowed to appreciate my girlfriend’s beautiful body?”

“Oh appreciate it, please,” I say, posing playfully.

“I love you,” she says through a laugh as she continues taking pictures.

“Do you want to move in together?”

“Come again?” Adena asks, nearly dropping the antique camera in her hands.

“You heard me,” I say, pulling my shirt over my head.

“Kat,” she sighs, putting the camera down.  
“You don’t have to, I don’t need an answer or anything like that. I just want you to know where I stand, and I feel like moving in together will be a step worth taking.”

“I don’t know,” she mumbles, looking down at the floor.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Baby,” I say, walking up and holding her shoulders before pulling her into me, “like I said, I just want you to know where I stand. If you don’t want to or think it’s too soon, we don’t have to.”

“I don’t think I’m ready for that. I mean, I know we are practically living with each other between our apartments, but I also know I like my alone time, and I feel like that is good in our relationship.”

“And I like being able to go out with Sutton and Jane, ending up on their couch.”

“Which would worry me even more if we lived together,” Adena smiles, pushing my curls from my face, “I love you, Kat, I do. I think we still need some more time with learning each other before we live together,” she says, leaning in to kiss me.

“I think you’re right.”

“Thank you. Now, we just have to print that photo of you and we can get everything ready to discuss a showing.”

* * *

"I brought up the topic of us moving in together, and she kind of shot it down.”

“Are you upset she said no?” Jane asks.

“No, she made a valid point, and she says we should get to know each other better.”

“Are you going to meet her mom?”

“I would like to, but we haven’t discussed when.”

“Well it seems like she knows a lot about you, she’s met your parents and you haven’t met her mother yet,” Sutton says, scrolling through Netflix.

“You make a good point.”

“A very valid one,” Sutton chimes.

“I feel as though I love her enough though that those things don’t matter as much as they should.”

“So then just give her time to decide what she wants to do. Adena seems like a private person,” Jane chimes, reaching over and patting my knee.

“She is, and she likes her time to herself. She likes being alone and I respect that.”

“You’re a better girlfriend than I thought you would be,” Sutton says.

“What does that mean?”

“I didn’t think you would be so understanding and respectful of someone. Not that you aren’t an amazing friend, you are, but being in love and in a relationship with someone is different.”

“She’s right. For someone that was nervous about being in a relationship, you are very good at it.”

“Thanks, guys,” I say, hiding my smile as best as I could.

“You’re cute when you get shy talking about Adena,” Jane coos.

“I love her.”

“It’s obvious.”

“It’s overwhelming sometimes,” I say quietly, “I didn’t think I could love one person as much as I do.”

“My brother says he felt that way about his wife, that was until they had a baby. When he saw his daughter he said he never felt that amount of love before,” Jane says.

“You know, I don’t know if I want kids.”

“Really?”

“Really,” I say, “I don’t know if I want to have kids, I haven’t talked to Adena about that, but I don’t think she does either.”

“She doesn’t want to move in with you, I think worrying about kids is something that doesn’t matter right now,” Sutton says.

“You’re right, I have to worry about other things right now.”

“Exactly. I don’t know what to watch, do you want to pick something?”

“No, I have to go. Adena and I are getting together at her place, she just had a late meeting,” I say, getting up from the couch, “love you both, I’ll see you at work.”

* * *

“Hello,” Adena chimes as I walk into her apartment. She walks over to me, pulling me in for a kiss, “how was your day?”

“Good, I hung out with Jane and Sutton. How was yours?”

“I had a great day. I have a date set for the showing.”

“You do?”

“Yes, next weekend here in Brooklyn.”

“Where you usually show?”

“No, I’m showing with a new gallery, they approached me in an email.”

“I’m happy for you,” I chime, kissing her again.

“Thank you,” she smiles, “I have something to show you.”

“Is it all the breasts again? I think I looked at them enough yesterday,” I tease, following her to the couch and flopping down on it.

“I’m starting my next series,” she says, picking up a small box.

“You’re just working like a crazy lady.”

“I’m inspired. You inspire me,” Adena says with a smile, leaning in to kiss me again.

“I inspire you?”

“Yes, very much.”

“Like a muse?”

“Exactly,” she smiles, kissing me again, “this series is of you. I would need your permission to use pictures of you.”

“Are you going to show my face?”

“I have already, but those I won’t sell like I did last time. What’s wrong?” She asks, furrowing her brow as she rubs my shoulder.

“I’m a muse, but you don’t want to move in with me?”

“Why would one have anything to do with the other?”

“I don’t know. I’m honored that you find me inspiring, but feel odd about how you don’t want to live with me.”

“Kat, don’t overthink anything.”

“It’s hard not to.”

“Everything will be okay, right now I’m not comfortable with the fact that we would be living together permanently. We have to rearrange our lives, choose whose apartment we’ll live in, things that I don’t want coming in between me and my work. I know that sounds selfish, but that’s why I don’t want to think about moving in with you right now.”

“Okay,” I nod.

“Me being selfish about moving in with you doesn’t make me love you any less,” she whispers, “you know I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” I say with a small smile as she leans in to kiss me.

“I’m not saying I don’t want to live with you, I want to have that chapter with you. Right now, isn’t the best time. We can revisit this in a few months.”

“Okay.”


	11. Chapter 11

-Adena POV-

“This place is nice, it isn’t too far from here. And it’s in my neighborhood,” Kat chime from the couch as she continues to scroll through looking for apartments.

“Is it expensive?”

“Babe, you know money isn’t an issue for us, we both make decent money and can afford to live comfortably.”

“I know, but still, you know I like to be conservative.”

“Then I’ll pay the rent,” she smiles, the smile that was always meant to not have me worry about what she was doing, the ‘trust me it’s okay’ smile. The same smile that I fell in love with long before I fell for everything else. The smile she would give me when I spoke to her in Farsi, it was a smile reserved only for me and I knew that right away.

“You know I don’t want you worrying about paying the rent on your own.”

“Adena, I make a great salary and have been lucky and grateful for the fact that the apartment we are currently sat in, has been paid for by my parents. I know the privilege I come from and honestly it would be nice to know that I am paying for something myself, rather than having a handout from my parents.”

“Okay,” I say, walking over and sitting beside her. Kat wraps her arm around me, kissing the side of my head before she continues looking at apartments for us. It’s been a couple of months since she and I spoke about moving in together, after my showing for charity I decided to take the leap and agree to move in together at our own pace, which meant looking for the perfect apartment together rather than choosing one of ours to move into. Our pace has brought us to a month and a half long search of finding the perfect place, “would you like to know a secret?” I say, brushing back some of the curls from her face as she rests her head against the back of the couch.

“You share the best ones,” she chimes, fixing her glasses.

“As long as I’m with you, I don’t care where we live. You are my home,” I say gently, leaning in to kiss her, “I love you, Kat.”

“I love you too,” she smiles, holding me by my waist. We stare at each other for a moment, smiling like fools. I always feel as if I could stare at her forever and never get tired of studying the way her eyes shift slightly, her pupils dilate ever so gently. I never get tired of looking at every freckle on her face, the way her nose twitches just before she smiles, how her nose scrunches up a bit when she’s really excited and smiling. Everything that is Kat Edison are things I never want to overlook and will never get over. I lean in again, kissing her slowly. I feel her move the computer from her lap before she slowly begins to ease me onto my back, playing with the hem of my shirt. I feel her hands start to run up and down my sides before finally taking my shirt and pulling it over my head before kissing across my chest. I moan quietly from the sensation, causing Kat to smile against my skin.

“You always get cocky when start making love,” I whisper, causing her to pull back a bit to look at me with those deep brown eyes.

“You’re so old-fashioned in the way you say things.”

“Are you complaining?” Kat shakes her head, leaning down to kiss me.

“It’s one of the things I love about you, I love that you aren’t caught up with being a millennial.”

“I feel like I’m rubbing off on you with that.”

“I know you are, aside from my job and what it calls for, I know that I have changed a lot since meeting you. I’ve learned to live in the moment, although you are taking us out of this one,” she chimes, leaning in to kiss me again.

“I can do what I please, and know that we are never out of this moment when we start,” I chime, laughing when she takes off her glasses and pulls her shirt over her head.

“Stop talking,” she mumbles, kissing me hard and undoing the tie on my sleep pants. She runs her fingers over my center, causing both of us to moan. Kat works me to orgasm quickly, something she always did when she was more focused on seeing me come undone rather than switching off with me to get her off. I feel myself coming down from my high, opening my eyes to see Kat smiling down at me with smugness. “I love you,” she chimes, leaning down to kiss me.

“I love you too,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around her and brushing my nose against hers.

“Who would have thought that apartment hunting would be such a turn on,” she teases.

“You can make anything turn into sex at the drop of a hat, and don’t think I haven’t caught on to that in the past year.”

“Can you believe it’s going to be a year already?”

“It still feels like I just met you in that bar.”

“And we talked until it closed,” Kat smiles, kissing me again.

“That was the best day of my life thus far.”

“Mine too. We should go somewhere.”

“Like where?”

“Somewhere that isn’t too far, just for a weekend.”

“The Hamptons?” I smile, “you promised once to take me and you haven’t yet.”

“I did, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did. Not that I’m complaining, I’ve been busy with working and stuff, we really haven’t had time.”

“I know, maybe we can go within the next couple of weeks, and this time I promise to take you,” she laughs, “I’m going to shower.”

“I have to shower, again, thank you very much,” I tease, causing Kat to laugh.

“Old news,” she winks, kissing me quickly before getting up from the couch.

 

-Kat POV-

Adena and I walk hand in hand down the beach, thankfully it was a fairly warm weekend for late September as Adena walked barefoot in the water that kissed the shoreline. Her camera hanging from her neck, as it always did. “What is your opinion on children?” She asks quietly, looking at me with a furrowed brow, holding her hijab that draped loosely over her head to stop it from blowing away.

“Right now, at this moment, I don’t see myself having children.”

“Do you think that would change in the future?”

“I don’t know,” I shrug, “do you want children?”

“Yes, one day. I think our age difference brings that into play. I feel like I’m at a point where I would want a child.”

“Would you want to have the child yourself, or adopt?”

“I would adopt, does that change things?”

“A bit,” I chime, we come to a stop. Adena lays out the blanket she was carrying and we sit down, “having a child is one thing. Having to plan excessively, the pregnancy itself, there are a lot of things to consider. But if we adopt, that could be easier.”

“You want to adopt a child with me?”

“I’m assuming you want to have a child with me, and have a family with me that’s why you brought up the question.”

“I guess I’ll settle on having a family with you,” she teases, leaning in to kiss me. “I feel that we are at a place where this conversation isn’t far off in the sense of how serious we are for each other.”

“Well, if that’s the case, I have to look at two bedroom apartments when we get home.”

“I love you,” she smiles, wrapping her arms around me.

“Are we adopting a baby or a kid?”

“I would like to adopt a baby. We can worry about that when we get to it.”

“Are they going to give us a child without being married?”

“I don’t know. I know some countries won’t give us a child regardless of if we’re married or not.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it and when the time is right until then we’ll try to find the right place to start a family and go from there. We still have a plan, you like when we have a plan.”

“While we’re on this kind of topic, I also want you to meet my mother.”

“I think that is a step that should come before children and marriage,” I laugh.

“You’re right,” Adena chuckles.

“How does she feel about your sexuality?”

“She understands that it’s something I can’t help. She doesn’t accept it, but she puts up with it and I think when she meets you and sees just how happy you make me, she’ll change her mind a bit.”

“You’re hoping that’s the case.”

“Yes, I am.”

“And is she doesn’t.”

“Then it is what it is, and she’ll miss out of seeing me happy and raising a family.”

“Well, I hope she changes her mind.”

“Me too, Love,” she smiles, pulling me in for a kiss. She brings her camera up to her eye and begins taking photos of me as well as the surrounding landscape of the beach around us.

“Will you ever stop taking pictures of me?”

“Never,” she laughs, continuing to take pictures of me as I walk away from her, “you’re so beautiful and photogenic, I can’t stop taking pictures of you!” Adena and I lie in bed together staring at each other as we come down from our highs of erotic ecstasy. She smiles, pulling me in for a slow kiss. “I’ve never felt a love as powerful as I have for you with anyone,” she whispers, “I feel like I need to remind you as often as possible.”

“I know, Baby,” I mumble against her skin.

* * *

“How was your weekend?” Sutton asks as she, Jane, and I gather in the fashion closet.

“Adena talked about adopting kids and getting married, she also wants me to meet her mom.”

“Seems eventful for an anniversary weekend,” Jane chimes.

“You are going to have kids?”

“We talked about adopting. I think I want to propose to her, guys.”

“You’re going to take the leap?”

“Yeah, when the time is right, I’ll know. But I know that I want her to be my wife, I never thought I would marry anyone, I never thought I would be with someone who I love so deeply. I want to marry her, I don’t want to lose her every.”

“Can I be the maid of honor?” Sutton asks, causing Jane and I to laugh a bit, “oh! Better yet, can I design your dresses?”

“I don’t see Adena or myself in a dress.”

“Can I design your suit and her jumpsuit?”

“That seems more like it unless she wants to have a traditional wedding to her culture,” I say, causing Sutton to wave me off.

“Muslim weddings, they still wear white.”

“How do you know that?”

“I just do, I’m in the world of fashion, I need to know all aspects of it.”

“Fair enough, when the time comes, I’ll discuss it with Adena.”

“How are you going to propose?”

“I don’t know, when the time is right, I’ll know and then we’ll go from there. If I need your help, I’ll let you know.”

“Well, since we’re on this topic, I, on the other hand, am engaged,” Jane announces.

“When did that happen?” Sutton chimes.

“Last night,” Jane smiles, holding up her hand to show off her ring.

“How did we miss that rock?” I say, looking at her engagement ring.

“Can I design your dress?” Sutton says excitedly.

“Whatever you want, Sutton,” Jane laughs.

“Wait, you’re going to move then, I can’t afford that apartment on my own.”

“You can move into the loft, Adena and I are moving in together and my parents’ won’t care.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, they don’t use it, and they can come and stay with Adena and I if they come to the city.”

“I owe you my life,” Sutton says in her playfully dramatic tone as she kisses my cheek.

“No, you owe me nothing, maybe free babysitting services when Adena and I have a kid.”

“Deal,” Sutton says, shaking on it.

“Kat, you have someone at the front desk,” the receptionist chimes before walking out.

“I love you both, congratulations Jane,” I say, kissing her cheek before walking out of the closet. I make my way to the front desk to see Adena standing there with a grin.

“Hey, Love,” she chimes, pulling me in for a quick kiss.

“Hey. What a nice surprise.”

“I came to see if you wanted to get coffee, seeing as lunch still manages to get us in trouble.”

“Coffee sound great. I have news anyway,” I smile, taking her hand in mine and walking towards the elevator.

“So what is your news?” Adena asks once the barista hands us our coffees.

“Jane is getting married.”

“She and the doctor are engaged? Sorry, I forgot his name.”

“Ben. Yeah, last night.”

“Well, let her know I send my congratulations.”

“Of course,” I smile as we sit down on one of the couches close to the coffee bar, she takes my hand in her, lacing our fingers together. “I offered Sutton the loft, seeing as Jane is going to be moving in with Ben, I think Jane is keeping her apartment, but Sutton can’t stay there.”

“Well, we have a couple of apartments to look at soon. I think we have a walk through this week.”

“We do, a couple of blocks over right by the bridge.”

“That was the two bedroom?”

“Yeah, one of them.”

“I talked to my mother today,” Adena whispers, playing with the lid of her cup.

“What happened?”

“She wants to meet you.”

“Is this a good thing?”

“Yes, it is actually.”

“Is she coming here?”

“No, she can’t right now, but she’s going to Skype us this weekend.”

“Okay, I look forward to it,” I smile, kissing her softly.

“I told her what you do for a living and how serious we are about each other, that helped her understand a bit better.”

“I think I can charm her.”

“She isn’t as easily impressed as me,” Adena laughs.

“Well, we’ll just have to see what happens.”

* * *

“Are you nervous?” Adena asks as she sets up the Skype call with her mother.

“Yes, actually.”

“Don’t be, Baby,” she says, getting up from the table and walking over to hug me, “relax, Love.” Adena whispers, kissing me softly. Her laptop begins to chime, she smiles, kissing me again before walking over and answering. “Allo, Mama.” I watch as Adena smiles at the computer screen, speaking in Farsi. “Kat, Mama,” she says, waving me over. “Mama, this is my girlfriend, Kat.”

“Hello, Mrs. El-Amin,” I say politely, waving to the woman who was a grey-haired version of Adena with dark-rimmed glasses.

“Nice to meet you, Kat,” she smiles, “Please, call me Ester.”

“Hello, Ester, it is lovely to finally meet you too,” I say, feeling Adena place her hand on my knee when I sat down beside her. We talk for about an hour. The usual discussion that takes place when you meet your lover’s parent for the first time, all intimidation tactics, but nothing that would change my mind about Adena, and I know nothing her mother could say would make her change the way she feels about me. I excuse myself and Adena begins to speak her language soon after I’m back on the other side of the table. She looks over at me every so often, her eyes sparkling.

“Okay, bye-bye, Mama,” Adena chimes with a wave as she closes her laptop.

“So?”

“She likes you,” Adena smiles, “genuinely.”

“Thank, God.”

“I agree,” she smiles, getting up from where she was sat, and walking over to sit on my lap, pulling me in for a kiss. “I’m so happy she likes you. It makes things a lot easier now.”

“It wouldn’t have changed anything, would it?”

“No, it wouldn’t have, but at the same time, I would have felt shitty if my mother wasn’t in my life. She already isn’t here physically, I couldn’t imagine not talking to her based on something I can’t control.”

“Well, now we don’t have to know what that would have been like,” I say, kissing the side of her head. 


	12. Chapter 12

-Kat POV-

Adena huffs as she places one of the last boxes on the counter in the kitchen of our apartment. “This is it,” she chimes, walking up behind me and wrapping her arms around my waist, kissing the side of my head.

“Are you happy?” I ask, placing my hands over hers.

“Very.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” she smiles, kissing me again, “take some time from going through dishes and come sit with me?” She leads the way out onto the small balcony, sitting down on the bench that was left here from the previous owner. We sit in silence, listening to the chaotic sounds of Manhattan, sirens screaming, horns blaring. The sounds muffled but there, “what’s wrong?”

“Have you ever been so content with your life that your emotions sort of flatline for a bit? You aren’t super happy, or super sad, you’re just content?”

“Yes, once.”

“When was that?”

“When you first told me you loved me,” Adena smiles, “I had the feeling of my heart growing full, and then everything just settled.”

“That’s how I’ve felt since yesterday when we signed the lease. Everything leading up to this moment was a whirlwind. But right now, sitting with you in our apartment, it’s nice. I’ve never been so happy,” I say, taking her hand in mine and lacing our fingers together.

“I feel the same way,” she smiles, “I would also like to thank you for giving me full power over our decor and how things should look.”

“Your style is more put together than mine, and all of those things that finally made it here from when you went home wouldn’t have gone with my decorating styles.”

“You love my Persian tastes, you could have just said it that way.”

“I do, very much,” I laugh, leaning in to kiss her.

“I have something for you,” she whispers, kissing me again.

“You always have something for me.”

“I love you and when I want to, I will spoil you.” Adena chimes, getting up and walking back into the apartment. I follow her into our bedroom, boxes still scattered around, and the bed was still bare, “close your eyes.”

“Really?”

“Yes, close,” she smiles, kissing me when I close my eyes. I hear her shuffling around, willing myself not to open my eyes and see what she was doing.

“You know I don’t like to be on the receiving end of a surprise.”

“You say that, but I think it’s bullshit.”

“Ooh, I love it when you use poor language,” I laugh.

“I know,” she laughs as she continues to shuffle around.

“Okay, you can open.” I do what I’m told and open my eyes to see her smiling at me with her hands behind her back.

“Are you making this more than it needs to be?”

“Maybe,” she shrugs.

“But we both know how much you love teasing me.”

“I love it so much,” She laughs, holding out a gift bag.

“I swear if this is something ridiculous.”

“It isn’t, trust me.”

“I trust you,” I smile, kissing her quickly before taking the bag from her hands. I walk over and sit down on the bed. I reach into the bag pulling out a book. I open the book to see photos that Adena has taken of me over the course of the year we’ve been together.

“These are the photos I want to use to do a series on you.”

“And you put a book together for us?”

“You’re my muse, everyone should know about it,” she smiles, pulling me in for a kiss.

“You can use these in a serious, as you have said, you won’t sell the ones with my face,” I say, looking through the book, seeing pictures that I didn’t know she took, “and this one you don’t have permission to sell,” I say, showing a picture that she took of my nude backside standing at the foot of the bed, you could see my hand running through my hair, trying to get out the knots that were formed during the night.

“That’s one of my favorite pictures, I want that one hanging in here somewhere, even if it’s a small one. I wanted to print it in black and white.”

“Print it however you want, I just better see the red dot next to it showing it isn’t for sale.”

“How about I give you that power. When I have everything set, you can go in early and put a red dot on all the ones you don’t want to be sold.”

“I like that idea, thank you,” I smile, leaning in to kiss her.

“I want to show you off, but I want you to be comfortable about it. All of the photos in here I want to show, you can look through it knowing that these are going to be printed and edited to how I like them. You can decide what you’re comfortable with sharing and why you aren’t.”

“Okay, when do you want to know that by?”

“In a few weeks. I want to show Downtown.”

“I’ll let you know,” I smile.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” she chimes, taking the book from my hands as she leans in and kisses me gently.

“What are you doing?”

“Do I still need to spell it out for you?” She chimes, pulling my shirt over my head.

“You might have to,” I tease, laughing when she rolls her eyes at me while she pushes me into the mattress.

* * *

I walk over to see Adena still rushing around taking photos of Jane and Ben’s wedding reception. “Are you done running around?”

“Jane was specific in what she wanted.”

“I know, but she also knows that you are my date and will compromise where needed.”

“But it’s work,” Adena says.

“I know it’s work, but you’re my girlfriend and I want to dance with you, I didn’t suggest you take photos and just forget about me.”

“Jane approached me.”

“Are we really arguing about this right now?”

“You’re arguing, I’m working.”

“And now I’m going to get a drink when you’re done working and want to be my girlfriend and date, you know where to find me,” I snap, walking past her. I stand at the bar, downing two shots in a row.

“What happened?” Sutton asks, walking up behind me.

“Is everything okay?” Jane asks.

“Yeah, don’t worry about me, go be with your hubby.”

“Hubby can wait,” she says with a small smile, “I can’t believe I can say that now. Anyway, he knows what the deal is with you ladies and is fully understanding, he had a medical emergency call to take anyway.”

“Adena and I had an argument,” I mutter, looking down at my drink, “we haven’t had a chance to be alone. She’s just been working.”

“I didn’t mean for her to get this way,” Jane says, “I’m sorry Kat.”

“She’s a professional, it’s something that I had to expect. I mean, I’ve seen her work before, but never to the extent that she has worked, and this is something I didn’t think I would see, but you know she loves doing it and I shouldn’t be mad.”

“How much have you had to drink?” Sutton asks.

“Two shots, back to back just now, some champagne, a glass of wine. And I think it’s all hitting me now.”

“I think it is too,” Sutton chimes, wrapping her arm around my waist.

“You know, we’ve been together for a year and a half and I think this is the first time we argued. We didn’t even argue about decorating our apartment when we bought it.”

“Kat,” Adena chimes, “would you ladies mind?”

“Not at all,” Jane says, walking back over to her wedding reception and dragging Sutton along with her.

“I thought you were busy working,” I snap.

“Kat, I think you’ve had enough.”

“How would you know. This whole wedding you’ve been running around taking photos and it’s as if you forgot about me even being here.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Oh don’t be you were working,” I mumble as I down another shot.  
“Kathryn,” Adena says firmly, “stop.”

“Are you done working?”

“Yes, I am,” she nods, taking my hand in hers, “excuse me, can I get a glass of water?” The bartender gives her a glass and a water bottle, she leads me over to a table in the corner, away from the attention of the guests and Jane and Sutton. She sits me down, crouching in front of me as she pours the water into the glass, “here,” she says reaching into her bag, “take these.”

“This is the first time we’ve argued ever.”

“I know.”

“I don’t like it.”

“I don’t either,” she whispers, shaking her head as she reaches up and caresses my cheek, “I’m sorry I got caught up working.”

“How long have we been together?”

“A year and seven and a half months,” Adena says with a smile.

“So precise.”

“Always, Baby.”

“I’m sorry for being over emotional.”

“And I’m sorry for putting work before you.”

“I love you,” I whisper, leaning in to kiss her.

“I love you too, but I think I should get you home.”

“This room is spinning, so maybe.”

“Come on,” she chimes, standing up and wrapping her arm around me, she grabs her bags before we make our way towards the exit.

“Thank you again, Adena, for taking the pictures for today, I really appreciate it,” Jane says, rushing over to us when she sees us getting ready to leave.

“You’re very welcome, Jane. Whenever you want to come by and look at them, let me know.”

“It will probably be when we get back from Greece.”

“Whenever, just let Kat know.”

“Of course,” Jane smiles, hugging Adena.

“I love you, congratulations Mrs. Chau,” I chime, pulling her in for a hug.

“Thanks, Kat. I love you too.”

“Let’s go, Love,” Adena chimes. Once we get home, Adena helps me out of my dress before pushing me into a shower.

“A shower doesn’t help me get sober, you know that.”

“No, but it will help you not stink like a distillery right now. Wash up,” she says, handing me a soapy loofa.

“You rather I smell like lavender.”

“Of course,” she smiles, “I’ll be right back.”

“Adena!” I whine not long after she left the bathroom.

“Yeah?”

“Spinning.”

“Come on,” she says, turning off the shower and helping me dry off before she pulls a shirt over my head.

“You’re too nice to me.”

“I love you, nothing will change that. Especially when it comes to how much you are capable of drinking, no level of drunkenness will change how I care for you.”

“I love you.”

“You know, the fact that you aren’t going to be able to lift your head from the pillow tomorrow is enough for me to feel vindicated, seeing as you will regret all of your choices in the morning.”

“That’s the Adena I was waiting for.”

“Tough love, Baby.”

“Especially when I’m drunk,” I say, lying down in our bed.

“Only when you’re drunk.”

“When are we getting married?”

“Is this a moment of lucidity? Or are you still drunk?”

“A bit of both, honestly.”

“When we’re ready, the time will come when we are going to be ready for total commitment.”

“I’m totally committed to you now.”

“And I’m totally committed to you, but at the same time, timing is everything.”

“Time is a construct.”

“Baby, don’t get philosophical,” Adena chimes, lying down beside me.

“I will do what I please,” I mumble, feeling my eyes grow heavy.

“Go to sleep,” I hear Adena whisper, kissing my forehead.

* * *

I wake up to the smell of fresh coffee, opening my eyes and staring up at the ceiling before slamming my eyes shut again, “how bad is it?” Adena asks from somewhere in the room.

“Seven,” I whine.

“Here,” she says, handing me two aspirin and a glass of water.

“Thank you.”

“Are you going to stay in bed all day?”

“No, I’ll get up in a little bit. I’m sorry about getting so upset last night.”

“And I’m sorry I didn’t put you first. But it is what it is, I just wanted to know what was happening because I was going to go to the studio and start working on Jane’s photos.”

“Can you stay with me?”

“For a little bit,” she smiles, lying down beside me.

“Are we getting married any time soon?”

“You’re really on that subject, aren’t you?”

“I brought it up last night, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did.”

“Seeing Jane get married made me feel like I want to have that moment. I want to have the moment of committing myself to you and having the party and all of that. I want that with you.”

“Timing, Kat,” Adena whispers, running her fingers through my hair.

“All you talk about is timing.”

“If it isn’t the right moment, it may not work out the way we hope. Everything comes down to timing if we were to get married tomorrow, who knows what will happen the next day. But if we wait a little longer and know that it is the right time, everything will fall into place and it would be perfect. I don’t want to leave something like that up to a whim. I want to know that when we get engaged, it is the right moment.”

“You talk about moments, and timing like this isn’t a good one.”

“How do we know it is or isn’t?”

“How did I know that meeting you was the right time? How did you know that night in the bar was the best night to start a conversation with me?”

“I felt it.”

“What did you feel?”

“The cosmic shift that was only ever told to me in stories with no truth. The same shift that happens in a romance novel. Time stopped, everything froze, the entire world stopped except for when I looked at you. The only other time that happened was when you told me you loved me for the first time,” she whispers, “and I know that you are a relentless woman that will do anything to get what she wants,” she smiles, “which is why I was waiting for the right time,” Adena reaches into her pocket, holding out her hand, “Kathryn Edison, you headstrong, determined, and beautifully unique love of my life, will you marry me?” I look at the ring, it was a simple single diamond on a rose gold band, I couldn’t form the proper words so all I could do was nod as tears began to run down my face. She slips the ring onto my finger and pulls me in for a kiss.

“I love you,” I say, an uneven shakiness to my voice.

“I love you, too, Kat.”

“I’m sorry. Did I ruin your moment by being a pain?”

“You were going to be a pain no matter when the moment was,” Adena laughs.

“You’re right,” I chime, pulling her in for another kiss.


	13. Chapter 13

-Adena POV-

I walk into our bedroom and smile as I catch Kat staring at her engagement ring, the seventh time in the past hour since I proposed and she accepted, “are you in awe, still shocked, or just loving the ring?”

“All three, Baby,” She smiles, getting up from the bed and walking over to wrap her arms around me. She leans in, kissing me softly, “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

“Are we going to tell everyone?”

“Not yet, I want us to just stay in our bubble for a little bit.”

“Okay,” she smiles, kissing me again. Kat turns, pushing me towards our bed without breaking the kiss.

“Kat, not now,” I mumbled.

“Why not?”

“We’ve probably had sex six times since I proposed,” I laugh, “I love you with every fiber of my being, but I have to go work.”

“You know I hate when you work so much,” she whines.

“I know, but I also hate when you work so much, so we’re even.”

“Fine.”

“Come with me.”

“You know I’ll just distract you.”

“So, at least you’ll be distracting me where I can get something done too.”

“I’ll be mature and let you go to work, I’ll see if Sutton wants to come over.”

“Try not to tell her.”

“I won’t tell her,” she says, looking down at her ring.

“You can if you want to,” I sigh.

“No, I’ll keep it between us until you’re ready to.”

“I want to tell your parents first, then we’ll tell my mother, and then we’ll tell friends.”

“Okay,” Kat smiles, kissing me again, “how long are you going to be?”

“A few hours, I just want to have a couple of prints done.”

“Okay, I love you.”

“I love you too,” I smile, kissing her quickly.

 

-Kat POV-

Sutton and I sit on the couch, sipping rosé and watching some crime documentary on Netflix, “he did it, there is too much evidence,” Sutton says, pointing to the TV.

“I don’t know, his call sounded too genuine, like, he was really upset.”

“To make it seem like he didn’t do it when he did!”

“Calm down.”

“I’m fine. How was it last night when you came home?”

“She threw me in a shower, and I went to bed.”

“You’re holding back something.”

“N-no.”

“You stuttered, you are.”

“I promised I wouldn’t tell you.”

“And just based on that, you have to tell me.”

“You can’t make a big deal about it, and don’t tell Adena I told you.”

“Promise,” Sutton chimes, putting her glass down on the coffee table.

“We’re engaged,” I mutter, looking up to see Sutton shaking with a smile on her face as she screams at the top of her lungs, “please don’t make me deaf.”

“Congratulations,” she squeals, pulling me into a hug, “where’s the ring?”

“I took it off before, it’s in the bedroom,” I say, getting up and getting the ring.

“She told you didn’t she?” I hear Adena chime as I walk back into the living room. I look over at her to see a smile on her face.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, I would have been more shocked if you didn’t tell Sutton,” she says, walking over and kissing me.

“So let me see the ring,” Sutton chimes. I slip the ring back onto my finger and hold out my hand for her to see. “It’s beautiful, Adena.”

“Thank you.”

“If you need someone to design your outfits, let me know.”

“Of course we will, Sutton,” Adena smiles.

“I also have a good photographer so you don’t have to work on your special day.”

“Thank you,” Adena laughs.

“I’m so happy for both of you, knowing Kat your wedding is going to be more fun that Jane’s was.”

“Well Adena knows how to party when she wants to, so I think it’s going to be fun.”

“We only just got engaged and if you ask me, I want our wedding to be the best it can be, so we are going to wait a bit before we have the ceremony, yes?”

“Of course, Babe,” I chime, kissing the side of her head, “did you finish everything you needed to?”

“Yes, I got everything started, I’ll make a few prints later on in the week.”

“Well, I’m going to let you ladies be, I have to do some work for Oliver,” Sutton chimes. We say our goodbyes, Sutton congratulating us again before she leaves. Adena takes off her hijab and gets herself settled to spend the night in as she likes to do.

“We should go out tonight,” I say, leaning against the back of the couch.

“Where would you like to go?”

“I don’t know,” I shrug, walking over to her and placing my arms on her shoulders, “we should just go somewhere. Go over to Manhattan, take a walk through the park, something.”

“Something simple?”

“Yeah, just spending time with you out of this apartment, we can even take a walk by the bridge, something.”

“Okay, we can go. I know you like to be out, and we spend a lot of our time in and have for a long time now. I have to get over staying in and just be understanding for you.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” We end up waking a walk along the East River, not far from our apartment, taking in the surroundings a the beauty of the Manhattan skyline at night. We’re silent as we stroll along hand in hand, enjoying each other’s company. “Do you want anything?” Adena asks.

“No, I’m okay,” I smile, kissing the side of her head as I lead us over to a bench, we sit down looking over at Manhattan, “do you think we’ll stay in the city, or Brooklyn?”

“I don’t see why not, both of our careers are here, there is no reason for us not to.”

“Do you still want to have kids?”

“Do you?” Adena asks, running her hand up and down my thigh.

“I think so. I think I would like to work from home and have a child to take care of, regardless of if it’s through adoption or having a baby, I want to be a mom. Do you?”

“Yeah,” Adena smiles, “I would like to be a mom too. I want that with you.”

“I want that with you, too,” I smile, leaning in to kiss her. I hear a woman scoff in front of us, causing me to pull away from Adena. I look over to see the woman standing there with a disgusted look on her face, she was an older white woman, no surprise she would scoff and Adena and I kissing, “can I help you?”

“Kat, don’t,” Adena says, placing her hand on my shoulder.

“You two should be ashamed of yourselves.”

“Why, because you think we should be.”

“You’re disgusting, God forbid a child sees you two.”

“And what? Sees two people who just happen to be women, showing how much they love each other while you stand there showing your hate for two people who love each other?”

“You are a disgusting representation of love.”

“And you are a disgusting excuse for a human,” I spit, causing the woman to look at me with a mortified expression as Adena pulls me away from the scene and back to our apartment.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?” She asks, wrapping her arms around my waist from behind as I stand at the kitchen sink.

“I’m okay, I just need a minute,” I nod, taking a deep breath.

“This is one of the reasons I like to stay in,” Adena mumbles against the back of my neck, “I don’t like seeing you get upset from ignorance.”

“I’m happy to hear you’ve been looking out for me all this time,” I laugh, turning to face her. Adena smiles, leaning in to kiss me before resting her head on my chest.

“Your heart is beating fast.”

“It always beats fast when you’re around.”

“I know, I love having that effect on you.”

“I know you do,” I smile, leaning in to kiss her again, wrapping my arms around her waist. We move around the kitchen with ease, not breaking our kiss as we reach the living area, I feel Adena stop, I reach out slightly and feel she is just in front of the couch, I go to push her back when she stops me.

“Bedroom,” she mumbles against my lips. I lift her up, feeling her legs wrap around my waist as I carry her into our bedroom, placing her down on the bed. I pull back from the kiss, looking down at her as she looks up at me, caressing my cheek with a small smile on her face, “I love you,” she whispers, pulling me back down to kiss me again.

 


	14. Chapter 14

-Kat POV-

I walk into the apartment after a long day at work, dropping my things at the door and kicking off my heels, “Babe?” I call out, taking my hair out of its bun as I walk towards our bedroom.

“Hey, Love,” She chimes from where she was sat on the bed. I walk over to her with a smile, kissing her softly, “how was your day?”

“Long,” I whine, taking off my clothes and changing into something more comfortable before climbing into bed beside Adena, resting my head on her shoulder as she continues to read.

“You’re tired.”

“Yes,” I nod against her shoulder.

“I know, you always get cuddly after work when you’re overtired,” she laughs, kissing my forehead, “are you going to take a nap?”

“Maybe.”

“Well, you know we have to tell my mother about our engagement.”

“I know. Can we tell her tomorrow?”

“Love, we have to tell her today. She knows we’re calling.”

“Can you make coffee?”

“Why can’t you make your own coffee?”

“Because you make better coffee, I’m not good at making it and didn’t think to stop because I wanted to get home.”

“You’re such a big baby.”

“But you love me,” I chime, looking at her with a smile. She rolls her eyes at me, kissing me quickly before putting her book down and getting out of bed.

“You better be in the kitchen in ten minutes, as soon as your coffee is ready we’re calling my mother.”

“You’re so bossy,” I tease, causing her to throw a balled up pair of socks at me. I look over at her to see her grinning before she walks away from the doorway.

“Ten minutes!” I smile as I hear Adena call out from the kitchen. I turn over, lying on my back and holding my hand out in front of me to look at my engagement ring, “Baby!” Adena calls out, I sigh, getting out of bed and walking towards the kitchen to see her standing there with a smile, holding my mug up to me.

“Thank you,” I smile, kissing her quickly.

“You’re welcome, Love.”

“Are you going to call your mom?”

“In a little bit. I just want to be with you for now.”

“So why couldn’t we just stay in bed?”

“Because then it would have lead to a lot more things and we wouldn’t have made it out of there and would have forgotten to call my mother altogether,” Adena chime, sitting on my lap after I take a seat at the table.

“Yeah, you’re right,” I chime, kissing up and down her neck. Laughing as she lets out a surprised gasp, “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she chimes, holding my face in her hands with a smile on her face as she looks at me in awe.

“You always look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m the world.”

“You are my world,” she says, kissing me softly, “you are more of my world than I thought you would be. I wouldn't change it for anything.”  
“Well, you liked it enough to put a ring on it, so I hope you wouldn’t change it.”

“You just mildly paraphrased Beyonce, didn’t you?”

“You know it, Baby,” I smile, leaning in and kissing her.

“You’re lucky I love you so much, or I wouldn’t put up with your lyrical references.”

“Oh, I know that.”

“So long as you know,” she smiles, kissing me again, “I’m going to get everything ready to call my mom.”

“We still have to tell my parents.”

“I know, but we can invite them for dinner, it’s harder to do that for my mom.”

“I know. Maybe we should fly her out here one day.”

“We will, she’s especially going to want to come to visit once we tell her.”

“I look forward to it,” I smile, kissing her quickly, “go get the laptop.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she smiles, getting off of my lap and walking over to the living room to get the laptop off of the coffee table. She comes back and places the laptop in front of us, and sitting on my lap again. I wrap my arms around her waist, holding her close. After a few moments, Ester was on the screen with a smile.

“Hello, girls.”

“Allo, Mama,” Adena smiles, falling into a conversation with her mother.

“How are you, Kat? How’s work?”

“I’m well, work is work. Social media never sleeps,” I chime causing her to laugh.

“Do you want to tell her?” Adena whispers in my ear.

“You tell her,” I smile, looking at Adena. She smirks, kissing me quickly before turning to face her mother.

“Mama, Kat and I have news.”

“Okay,” Ester smiles over the mug she was drinking out of.

“Kat and I are engaged, Mama.”

“Are you completely ready to fully commit yourself to my daughter, Kat?”

“I love your daughter more than I thought I could ever love someone. I don’t know how to put it into words, but I know that I will love your daughter forever and never do anything to harm her or put her in harm's way,” I explain. Ester nods her head before turning to speak to Adena in Farsi. I watch as both she and Adena smile as their conversation comes to an end.

“Congratulations to you both, I can’t wait for the wedding.”

“Thank you,” I chime, smiling when Adena kisses the side of my head.

“Before you make that vow, I want you to promise me right now that you are going to take the utmost care of my daughter.”

“I promise you, Mrs. El-Amin. I swear to you, Adena will be taken care of for the rest of her life.”

“I trust you, Kat.”

“I’m grateful that you trust me,” I smile, causing her mother to smile as well. We continue to talk about everything, and we make sure to show her the ring before we finally saw our goodbyes. Once we hand up, Adena wraps her arms around me a bit more, holding me closer.

“I love you,” Adena whispers in my ear, kissing the side of my head.

“I love you, too,” I mumble as she kissing me hard, her hands roaming under my shirt. I follow her lead and situate myself so that I can stand up, carrying her back into our bedroom. Adena lets out a content whine as I place her on the bed, allowing for her to pull my shirt off and tossing it aside. I play with the hem of her shirt as I kiss her neck, pulling it off slowly and tossing it away to join mine in the forgotten place of our bedroom. I look down at her as she reaches up, playing with the curls at the back of my neck. “What?” I ask her, watching as she smiles shyly.

“Nothing,” she whispers, shaking her head as she pulls me in for a kiss.

* * *

Adena and I sit around in bed, having decided to order in for dinner. Adena and I enjoy our dinner in bed, she lies under the covers while I fed her sushi, “we should do this more often,” she says with a laugh.

“Do what?”

“Have meals in bed after having the best sex thus far.”

“You always say the sex is the best sex, no matter what.”

“Because it is. You’re good with your tongue,” she says with a seductive tone to her voice.

“Old news, Baby,” I chime, leaning over to kiss her.

“But you still keep it exciting.”

“And you have no idea how happy it makes me when I hear you say that.”

“I know, I see your head gets just a bit bigger when I say something like that.”

“As it should.” Adena laughs, pulling me in for a kiss.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

* * *

Adena and I walk up to my parents’ house, knocking on the door. My mother comes to the door, opening it with a smile. “Hello, girls,” she chimes, giving us each a hug.

“Hello, Susan, this is for you,” Adena smiles, handing her a bottle of wine, “Kat said you were making something that would go better with white.”

“Thank you,” she coos, stepping aside to allow Adena and I to come in.

“Where’s Dad?” I ask, kicking off my shoes.

“He’s running a little late, he had a last minute patient and will home soon.”

“Okay,” I say, slipping off my ring and putting it in my pocket, knowing my mother she’d see it before it was appropriate to.

“So how are you two? I haven’t heard from either of you in a little while,” Mom asks as we follow her into the kitchen.

“We’re doing well. Kat’s always working, and I’ve been busy working,” Adena chimes.

“Are you working on a new show?

“A bit yeah. I’m freelancing as well. Making sure I keep busy.”

“A little too busy if you ask me.”

“Says you, all you do is work,” she says, shoving me playfully.

“But when I come home to find you editing away, it’s as if your work schedule and mine don’t go together.”

“Girls, don’t argue. I don’t want to hear you argue.”

“Sorry, Mom. Although I wouldn’t say we’re arguing so much as we are bickering.”

“Doesn’t matter, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Uh-oh, your mother is using her serious voice,” Dad chimes as he walks into the kitchen with a smile, kissing my mother’s cheek before greeting Adena and me, “how is everything girls?”

“Good.” Adena and I say in unison. The rest of dinner went by smoothly, Adena discussing ideas for her show while I spoke about different things going on a work. After a little while, Adena looks over at me and smiles.

“We actually have some news for you both,” I chime, taking Adena’s hand in mine.

“Kat and I are engaged,” Adena coos, laughing as my mother shrieks, nearly falling out of her chair.

“Congratulations,” Dad chimes, getting up from his chair and walking over to hug us. I reach into my pocket, pulling out the ring and slipping it on to show it off.

“Oh, Mom. Don’t cry.”

“My little girl is getting married to the most wonderful woman I’ve ever met. I can cry if I want to. I’m so happy my daughter found you, Adena.”

“I’m happy I found your daughter, Susan.”

“How long have you been engaged?” Dad asks.

“A few days. Don’t think it’s been months and we haven’t told you.”

“Okay. I’m happy for you, Sweetheart,” Dad says, kissing my cheek, “I’m happy for both of you. I feel the same way your mother does, happy you found someone so wonderful.”

“We’re both very lucky,” Adena chimes, wrapping her arm around my waist. 


	15. Chapter 15

-Kat POV-

I walk into the living room to see Adena sitting on the couch watching TV, interested in what she was watching she didn't hear me walk in. I walk up behind the couch, wrapping my arms around her and kissing her cheek, “Anything interesting?”

“No, you know I don’t enjoy television all that much,” she smiles, turning to kiss me softly.

“What are we doing today?” I chime, climbing onto the back of the couch to sit beside her.

“You could have walked around.”

“No so fun,” I laugh, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and kissing the side of her head.

“Want to go to Manhattan?”

“What for?”

“Anything. Just walk through the park, there's an exhibit opening in the MoMA I would like to see. Have a date night?”

“Okay, let me just shower. Jane actually had me and Sutton workout today.”

“I know, I smelt you when you walked in,” Adena laughs.

“Great, now I really have to shower,” I laugh, kissing her quickly, “be out soon.”

“Okay.” 

* * *

I watch Adena walk around the exhibit, arms crossed over her chest as she tilts her head to either side, getting lost in what she is looking at. I was always more interested in Adena than I was interested in the art. Watching her was always better than the art. I feel Adena walk up beside me, where I was instead lost in a painting rather than my fiancee, wrapping her arm around my waist, “having fun?” She asks, kissing my cheek.

“Always when I’m with you.”

“You haven’t looked at anything else the entire time until now.”

“You’re beautiful and captivating enough for me.”

“I know that,” she laughs, kissing me softly, “but there are some interesting things here.”

“I know, but I’d rather look at my future wife.”

“Well, aren’t you sweet,” she chimes, kissing me again.

“I love you, and the thought of you being my wife and me being yours is something I look forward to.”

“I look forward to it too,” Adena smiles, taking my hand and lacing our fingers together, “come on, there is still more to look at, and you should look at the art this time.”

“I’ll try, but I can’t promise anything,” I laugh as Adena rolls her eyes at me, pulling me through the rest of the exhibit.

“I actually have something I want to discuss with you,” Adena says as we walk through the exhibit, she stops every so often to look at something for a moment before moving on slowly.

“Okay.”

“I was speaking to my mother when you were put earlier and she was talking about coming to visit.”

“You make it seem like you didn’t want to tell me that.”

“I didn’t know how you would react.”

“Okay, but I want to meet your mother, I have no reason to be against wanting to meet your mom. She can even stay with us, we have the spare room.”

“I just wanted to be sure.”

“Adena, we’re planning to spend our lives together, and your mother is apart of that, she is more than welcome to come and visit us as often as she wants to,” I say, Adena smiles, pulling me in for a kiss. 

“I love you, Kat. You are the sweetest person I’ve ever met.”

“I love you too.”

“When does she plan on coming?”

“She’s coming for my birthday.”

“So within the next week or two?”

“Yes,” Adena nods.

“Well, we should get a bed for the spare room before it’s too late.”

“That would be a good idea,” Adena laughs.

* * *

“Are you excited?” I ask Adena as we wait for her mother at the bottom of the escalator by baggage claim.

“I haven’t seen my mother in a while in person, so yes.”

“Adena!” A woman shouts, waving as she walks towards us with a smile.

“Mama!” Adena chimes, rushing towards Ester with open arms. She speaks to her mother in Farsi as they embrace.

“It’s nice to meet you in person, Kat,” Ester chimes, walking towards me with open arms, “you’re taller than I thought you’d be, Dear.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I laugh.

“Come on, Mama, let’s get you home.”

“Okay, Love,” Ester smiles as we walk towards baggage claim to get her things, all while she spoke to Adena in their language. It was different to hear her mother respond in real life, rather than over a computer. It was nice to hear Adena speak so animatedly to her mother and her mother speak the same way in return.

“Kat,” Adena chimes as we grab her mother’s bags.

“Yes, Love?”

“We should take my mother somewhere nice for dinner, do you want to make a reservation?”

“Where should we go? What would she like?”

“She loves French food.”

“Really?”

“Yes, maybe that French place near the village?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” I chime, kissing Adena quickly.

* * *

After dinner in the village, Adena, Ester, and I were back at the apartment. Ester was telling me a story about Adena when she was a little girl, home in Iran, and although she was embarrassed, she was laughing with us, “Mama, I told you not to tell that story.”

“Sweetheart, you were scared of that chicken for years,” Ester laugh, rubbing the tears from her eyes.

“She made me fall and rip my favorite dress at the time. I still remember it from when I was four, it was pink and had a couple of flowers on it, Nana made it for me.”

“Then she fixed it up, you know that,” Ester chimes, waving her hand at Adena.

“I know,” Adena says, “I was happy when that chicken died,” she whispers in my ear, causing me to giggle. I turn to see her smiling as I lean in to kiss her softly.

“You two are very much in love,” Ester chimes.

“We are, Mama.”

“I’m grateful to see that you have found such a love, even if it’s with a woman.”

“I know you don’t fully understand my sexuality, but I’m happy you are able to accept it.”

“I enjoy seeing you happy, it’s the most important thing as your mother to see, you have no idea. I will always love you and be happy to see you happy.”

“Thank you, Mama,” Adena says, getting up and walking over to give her mother a hug.

“You’re welcome, Love,” Ester chimes, standing up from where she was sat, “thank you both for a lovely evening, I am rather tired and look forward to having a nice day tomorrow.”

“Good night, Ester,” I chime from where I was sat, giving her a small wave as she makes her way towards the guest room. Adena walks back over to me, flopping down and curling into my side, kissing the side of my neck, “are you happy?”

“Yes, very happy.”

“Good, that’s all that matters,” I chime, kissing her forehead, “where are you going to take her tomorrow?”

“She wants to do all the tourist things, she wants to see Times Square, maybe we’ll go to the Statue of Liberty, take her to Central Park.”

“All the things you don’t care for because it isn’t an art museum,” I tease.

“She wants to go to those too, it’s supposed to rain Friday, maybe we’ll do that then.”

“While your mom is here, don’t worry about making it home in time for me or anything like that. I want you to spend all the time you can with her, and I have a lot of work to do this week, events to plan so I’ll be pretty busy,” I explain.

“Okay,” she chimes, kissing me softly, “I love you.”

“I love you too, but Saturday, we’re doing whatever you want, seeing as it’s your birthday,” I smile.

“Well, if my mother wasn’t here it would consist of us in bed all day, and ordering takeout, but seeing as that isn’t the case, I still want to stay in. Mama will probably offer to cook for me, seeing as I miss her cooking.” 

“Do you want that cake you like?”

“From that bakery two blocks over, of course,” she smiles, sitting up straight.

“You want to talk about something, don’t you?”

“How do you know?”

“You’re sitting up straighter and you're cross-legged towards me, that happens when you want to talk.”

“It isn’t bad,” Adena laughs.

“Can we talk in bed, I’m tired,” I whine.

“Come on, you baby,” Adena says, standing up and holding her hand out for me to take. We get comfortable in bed, Adena turns to me with a small smile, “can we talk about wedding plans?”

“I would have stayed on the couch if I knew the topic,” I say through a yawn, “can we talk about this tomorrow? Or when your mom leaves?”

“I’m sorry I brought it up,” Adena says, turning away from me.

“Babe, I’m sorry,” I whisper, leaning up to look over her. Adena sighs, turning on her back to look up at me, “I know you’re excited about this, and you want to get to planning things soon, but I just want to stay in this part of things. I don’t want to go crazy and plan everything and have to wait years for it.”

“That’s going to be the case whether we plan things now or wait, booking a venue is something we should do soon.”

“Well, we can talk about this tomorrow?”

“Okay,” she whispers, kissing me softly.

“I love you, Adena.”

“I love you too, Kat.”

 

-Adena POV-

I wake up to Kat, burying her face into the crook of my neck, sighing a bit. This is something she does every morning, causing me to smile. She leaves a gentle kiss on my shoulder before pulling me closer to her, “good morning,” I mumble, taking her hand in mine.

“Good morning,” she chimes, I feel her begin to turn my body in order to face her, kissing me properly. I open my eyes, facing her with a smile as she runs her fingers through my hair, combing through some of the knots that had formed during sleep, “how did you sleep?” she whispers.

“Well, as always when I’m next to you.”

“How sweet,” Kat teases, kissing me again.

“Happy Birthday,” she mumbles against my lips.

“I was thinking you’d forgotten.”

“Have I forgotten one yet?”

“No, and I hope you never will.”

“I won’t, Love. I’ll never forget,” Kat whispers, kissing me softly, “I got you something.”

“Is it something for now or later?”

“When Mama leaves,” Kat winks playfully, “well I got you a few things, in that case,” she whispers, kissing me again.

“Keep the fun things for when Mama leaves,” I chime, kissing her sweetly.

“Of course,” Kat whispers, getting out of bed and walking into the closet. I sat up a bit, running my fingers through my hair. I look over at Kat and smile as she walks out of the closet, carrying a gift bag.

“Thank you, Kat,” I chime as she places the bag on the bed. I peak in, pulling out the tissue paper, to see that Kat had gotten me a brand new camera, better than the one I had now, seeing as it was about five years old, “oh Kat, you didn’t have to do that.”

“Don’t fight it. You know I would always get you what you want or need. This is just one thing. It fits the lenses that you have already, it’s pretty much a newer version of yours, so all if your equipment fits it.”

“Thank you, really,” I say, leaning in to kiss her, “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” After a little while alone in bed, Kat and I decided to get up, we walk into the kitchen to see my mother beginning to cook.

“There’s my lovely girl,” she chimes, walking over to give me a hug, “Happy Birthday, Love.”

“Thank you, Mama.”

“You’re welcome, Love,” she smiles, “do you want coffee?”

“Please,” I chime, sitting down at the counter.

“I’ll do it, Ester,” Kat chimes, fixing us each a cup, “do you want one?”

“No thank you, Kat. I prefer tea.”

“I’ll fix you some,” Kat chimes, the past couple of days were the same show between the two women. I could sense Kat was getting tense from the interference of our morning routine, and she was trying to make the best of it. She smiles, placing the mug of coffee in front of me, kissing the side of my head.

“Do you have anything planned for the day?” Mama asks as she goes back to attending to her pots.

“No, not really. I look forward to you making dinner. Maybe after dinner, Kat and I will go to meet our friends.”

“Okay, that sounds nice.”

“It does sound nice,” Kat chimes, taking my hand in hers.

“I look forward to it,” I smile. I feel Kat kiss my cheek before walking out of the kitchen.

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah. Kat is just someone who likes routine. She gets thrown off when she has a day off.”

“I understand. I know that my being here could probably be throwing her off too.”

“No, Mama, don’t feel bad.”

“I don’t, I’m leaving soon anyway. I have to get back to my sisters, you know.”

“Yes, I know,” I smile, “I enjoy that you’re here, Mama, I really missed you.”

“I missed you too, Adena, I miss you every day, but I know what you’re doing is for your own well being and happiness, and that is what makes everything okay.”

“I’m happy you know I’m happy.”

“I love you, Adena, there isn’t anything that wouldn’t make me happy to see you do. And I know that Kat makes you very happy.”

“She does, Mama, I can’t wait to marry her.”

“I know that Sweetheart,” she smiles,” have you two spoken about children?”

“I think we’re going to adopt children, but I’m not too sure. We don’t have to rush that idea.”

“No, you don’t but at least you have a plan.”

“Yeah, we do,” I smile. I look over into the living room to see Kat was sitting on the couch watching TV. I get up, walking over and sitting down beside her, much to Kat’s surprise.

“Hey, Baby,” she chimes, kissing the side of my head.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about me. It’s your day.”

“I’ll always worry about you, you know that.”

“I do, but I also know you don’t always need to,” she chimes.

“I love you, Kathryn.”

“I love you, Adena,” she whispers.

“I know you’ve been off for the past few days, but my mother is leaving soon and everything will go back to how it was,” I whisper.

“I know. I like that she was here, but you are understanding enough to know I like my time to myself with just you.”

“I know. You like your routine.”

“Yeah,” Kat says, “I love you.”

“Something is bothering you.”

“I don’t know, I just feel off.”

“You can talk to me.”

“I know, I just don’t know what’s bothering me.”

“Maybe you’ll feel better when we go out later.”

“I hope so,” she says, resting her head on my shoulder.

 

-Kat POV-

Adena and I were getting ready to go out for her birthday. She was standing in the closet, wrapped in a towel trying to figure out what to wear. I walk up behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist. “Do you feel better?”

“A little bit,” I nod, kissing the side of her head.

“I’m happy to hear that. I was worried about you all day. I don’t like when you’re off.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper in her ear, “you should wear that jumpsuit, the flowy one.”

“I was thinking about that,” she smiles.

“It’s one of my favorite things to see you on.”

“You should wear your black one then, we’ll keep a theme for the night.”

“Okay.”

* * *

Adena and I walk into the bar hand in hand. Sutton shrieks, throwing her arms up on the air, rushing over and wrapping Adena in a hug, “Happy Birthday!”

“Thank you,” Adena chimes, kissing Sutton’s cheek.

“I know you don’t drink, but Kat does, she’s having a sot for you,” Sutton chimes, handing me two shots of tequila.

“I don't want more than this,” I say, downing both shots.

“You can drink,” Adena whispers in my ear.

“I don’t want to.”

“Okay,” Adena smiles, kissing my cheek.

“So how’s your birthday so far?” Jane asks. The three of them fall into a conversation, something I managed to tune out. I feel Adena run her hand up and down my thigh absentmindedly. Something she always did when she wasn’t giving me her full attention. I turn to her and smile, she looks at me with concern on her face, reaching up to caress my cheek.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” She whispers in my ear when Jane and Sutton leave the table.

“I don’t know,” I whine, resting my forehead on her shoulder.

“You aren’t yourself, Baby.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s okay to not feel yourself, I just want to help you out of it if I can,”

“I love you,” I whisper, leaning in to kiss her.

“I love you too. Talk to me.”

“Later, I promise.”

“Okay,” she smiles, nodding as she kisses me again as Sutton places a drink in front of each of us.

“Everything okay?” Jane asks.

“Yeah,” I say, forcing a smile.

“That sounds like a lie, but okay,” Jane says.

“Fine, let’s air this out now,” I say, sitting up straight, “I love your mother, I really do, I think she’s an amazing woman, but I don’t know how I feel about the thought of her being my mother-in-law,” I say, directing the conversation towards Adena.

“Kat, we don't need to discuss this now.”

“But that is what’s bothering me.”

“And I’m happy we can discuss everything, but I don’t want to discuss this now. This isn't the place.”

“I know it’s not the place.”

“So drop it.”

“I’m sorry I pushed,” Jane chimes.

“Don’t be sorry. I’m happy Kat said something, but I know this isn’t the place to continue the conversation.”

“Sorry for upsetting the situation,” I whisper.

“Kat,” Adena chimes, “come, let’s get some air.”

“Are you leaving?”

“No, I just want to take her outside for a moment,” Adena says, taking my hand in hers. We walk out of the bar, and she pulls me into a hug, holding me for a moment, not saying anything, “why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I don’t know,” I mumble into her shoulder.

“Whatever you tell me about my mother will stay between us.”

“But I don’t want you to think I don’t like her, I do.”

“She’s overbearing, I know she is,” Adena chimes, pulling back to look at me with a sad smile. “It’s hard to get around that with her and it can be a lot. I don’t want you to feel bad about it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, Baby. At least I know what’s wrong.”

“I just want to get our home back, and be alone together.”

“You’re frustrated, aren’t you?” Adena teases.

“Well yeah. I don’t know if you have any kind of idea.”

“Oh, I do. Trust me,” Adena chimes, pulling me in for a deep kiss.

“Don’t tease me,” I whine.

“I’m sorry,” Adena laughs, “she’s leaving the day after tomorrow, so don’t worry, we’ll have everything back to normal soon.”

“I don’t want to leave our bed this weekend.”

“That’s okay,” Adena says through a laugh.

“Good.”

“Then we’ll spend your birthday in bed.”

“You know I almost forgot about my birthday.”

“All the stress isn’t good.”

“I need help relaxing.”

“Yes, you do,” Adena laughs, “Mother will be gone soon.”

“Not soon enough,” I whine. Adena lets out a chuckle, before kissing me again.

“You’re such a baby sometimes,” Adena teases.

“But you still love me.”

“Always.”


	16. Chapter 16

-Kat POV-

Adena and I walk through one of the venues we were planning to have our reception in. The woman was talking about capacities and the menu we can have for dinner, much to my mild annoyance. I feel Adena squeeze my hand lightly, bringing my attention back to her. I smile, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “So what do you ladies think?” The wedding planner asks enthusiastically.

“I think it’s nice. It’s small and what we were looking for,” Adena chimes, looking at me.

“Yeah, wherever you want to have our reception, we’ll have it. I told you to choose.”

“Excuse us for a moment,” Adena says politely, taking me towards the direction of the lobby, “what’s wrong?”

“I don’t like doing this kind of crap. I would rather we just elope at this point.”

“Kat, I don’t want that for us. We’re only going to get married once, and there isn’t anything memorable about eloping.”

“We can make it memorable,” I say in my best seductive tone of voice, causing Adena to chuckle a bit, wrapping her arms around my shoulder.

“I love you, Kat, but at the same time, I want this to be memorable.”

“I know, and I want you to have your dream wedding. As long as you still want to have it with me, I don’t care what the wedding is like, or where it takes place.”

“Okay,” she nods, kissing me softly.

“Do you like this place?”

“Yes, I think it’s great for us.”

“Then we’ll call this the place,” I smile, kissing her again.

“Okay,” she smiles, kissing me again, “I’ll go talk to the wedding planner.”

“Okay.”

“You can go home if you want, I’ll meet you over there.”

“No, it’s fine,” I say, taking her hand and lacing our fingers together as we walk back into the main hall.

“Everything okay?” The wedding planner, Alexa, asks.

“Yes, we’re going to use this for our reception,” Adena says with a polite smile.

“Wonderful.”

Adena and I discuss different dates that would be appropriate, and we settle on one about six months from now, seeing as it was the soonest they were available and it was better than waiting any longer. After everything was settled, Adena and I walk out onto the street to see it had begun to snow, “good thing we’re getting married in June,” I chime as we climb into the back of a cab.

“Yeah,” Adena chimes as she takes a hold of my hand, “are you happy?”

“I’m very happy,” I smile, kissing the side of her head.

“I love you,” she whispers in my ear.

“I love you too.”

* * *

"Kat,” Adena whispers in my ear, shaking me gently. I open my eyes to see Adena sitting down and running her fingers through my hair, “Hello sleepy head.”

“I was tired,” I whined, turning to lie on my back. “To what do I owe the pleasure of being woken up?”

“Ben called, Jane had the babies,” Adena chimes. After being given her BRACA diagnosis, she chose to try to have a baby quickly after marrying Ben, which he also agreed would be a good idea. Not too long after trying she announced her pregnancy about three months after getting married to bed, only to make another announcement that she was having twins soon after.

“Everything okay?”

“Yes, the babies are healthy and Jane is doing well. She must really be happy she married a doctor,” Adena chimes.

“Yeah, she must be,” I chuckle, “I want to go see them.”

“Okay,” Adena smiles, leaning in to kiss me, “she asked for you anyway. You and Sutton are the only ones allowed to see the babies first.”

“I’m honored at that fact,” I say, getting out of bed. Adena and I make it to the hospital and are directed to where Jane was. I knock on the door lightly and am greeted by Ben, who looks at Adena and me with a smile, pulling us each in for a hug, “congratulations,” I chime, kissing his cheek. I walk into the room to see Sutton had already beaten me here and was holding one of the babies, looking at it with a smile. Jane rolls her head to the side, looking at me with a lazy smile, holding her hand out to me.

“Kat, come and meet the babies!” She says, a slightly dopey tone to her voice. I walk over to the plastic bassinet beside the bed with the other baby in it, I look down to see they were sleeping and wrapped in a light pink blanket, “this is Diana Kathryn, after my mother and best friend,” Jane chimes as I pick up the little baby gently, as Ben coaches me, “Sutton is currently holding Brady Benjamin.”

“We get namesakes,” Sutton chimes, raising her elbow for me to touch seeing as our hands were full at the moment.

“She’s beautiful, Jane,” I chime, looking down at the little girl in my arms, still asleep and undisturbed.

“Thank you,” Jane chimes. I feel Adena walk up behind me, placing her hand on my small of my back. I look over to see Adena smiling, she leans in, kissing my cheek before we both look down at the baby.

“You two look like naturals already,” Sutton chime.

“Kat looks like a natural,” Adena chimes, looking at me with a smile, “but we are set on adopting, and we’ll see where that takes us.”

“Either way, you two are going to make wonderful parents,” Ben chimes, sitting down beside Jane and kissing the side of her head. I look back at Diana, who was looking at me with open eyes now. I stare into her eyes, something about them was mysterious. I smile down at her, causing her to then smile back slightly.

“Are you having a moment with my daughter?”

“I am, I laugh, taking a seat beside Sutton.”

“We want to talk to you both about something else,” Ben chimes.

“We would like you to be the godmother of your namesake, each of you,” Jane says.

“Really?” Sutton chimes, “Oh my God, Brady, I’m going to be like your fairy godmother!” She says a little too loud and excitedly, causing the newborn to let out a whimper, “oh, I’m sorry.” She coos, cradling the baby close causing his whimpers to quiet down.

 

-Adena POV-

I look over at Kat while she holds Jane’s, newborn baby. Something about seeing her holding the baby was powerful. Power, in the sense that I couldn’t wait to see her as a mother, regardless of if we adopt children or have children on our own. Kat looks up at me and smiles, “did you forget you were going to take photos?” Kat teases.

“Oh, right. Sorry, I was just so engrossed in seeing you with Diana,” I chime, getting my camera out of its bag. I begin taking pictures of Kat and Sutton as they each seem to not want to give the children back to their parents. After a few moments, they each give back the child they were holding so I could take photos of Ben and Jane with their twins.

“Would you like to do a shoot in a few months of the babies? Or do their monthly milestone photos?” Jane asks.

“Of course,” I say, looking through the pictures I’ve just taken. I feel Kat walk up behind me, placing her hand on my back.

“I like that picture,” she chimes, looking at the screen of her and Sutton holding they godchild.

“I’ll print it when we get home. I’ll make copies.”

“Okay,” Kat chimes, kissing me quickly.

 

-Kat POV-

I walk up behind Adena as she edits the photos from earlier in the day. I wrap my arms around her, kissing the column of her neck, “Hello,” she sings, tilting her head a bit, allowing me more access.

“Hi,” I whisper in her ear.

“What are you up to?”

“You know what I’m up to.”

“I don’t feel well, can we not go that far tonight?”

“That’s fine,” I chime, kissing her again, “Can we make out like horny teenagers then?”

“Why do you have to say it like that?” she says with a laugh.

“Cause it gets you to laugh,” I tease, kissing her cheek.

“And then you walk away, I see how it is.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Can we talk about something?”

“Of course.”

“Children,” I say, sitting at the table across from her.

“Are we adopting?”

“I think I’d rather adopt.”

“Okay,” Adena smiles, reaching over and squeezing my hand.

“Do you think we’ll be good parents?”

“I think we’ll be wonderful parents.”

“I never thought I’d have children with anyone, but I’m happy I’m having this discussion with you.”

“I’m happy I’m having this discussion with you too. I love you, Kat.”

“I love you, Adena,” I chime, leaning in to kiss her softly, “we just have to get married first,” I whine.

“We can start looking into different agencies to start and go from there.”

“Okay,” I nod, kissing her again.

 

**_*One year later*_ **

“Do you want to settle on a baby or a child?” Adena asks as we walk into the adoption agency in Manhattan. After long discussions, several arguments, and tears, we finally decided to take the leap and begin the adoption process. Hours of research brought us to an LGBT adoption agency based out of New York.

“I think we should just take our time, talk and see what the process is and how everything works,” Adena says, kissing me softly.

“Okay,” I whisper, taking a deep breath. We walk in and are greeted by an older woman with a smile.

“Hello ladies, are you here for the adoption event?”

“Yes, ma’am. I am Adena El-Amin, and this is my wife, Kat Edison.”

“Adena El-Amin? The photographer?”

“Yes,” Adena chimes, cocking an eyebrow.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I am an admirer of your work,” the woman chimes, shaking Adena’s hand. “And your wife, she’s your muse, is she not?”

“She is,” Adena chimes with a smile, kissing my cheek.

“It was wonderful to meet you. Right through there are the children, I’m assuming that's all your paperwork?” She asks, pointing to the envelope under my arm.

“Oh, yes. Here,” I say, handing her the envelope.

“Thank you. Enjoy your time.” Adena and I walk into a room where children were playing. All different ages and races of children were playing happily. The younger children more animated than the older kids. I feel Adena let my hand go, I look at her to see her smile.

“There’s a little boy over there, I want to say hello,” she says, pointing to a boy who was about five years old, sitting by himself.

“Hi!” A little girl chimes as she walks up to me.

“Hello, what’s your name?” I asked, crouching down to her level.

“My name is Kat, what’s your name?”

“My name is also, Kat.”

“Really?” She asks with wide eyes.

“Yes ma’am,” I nod.

“That’s cool. Who was that lady you walked in with?”

“That is my wife, Adena.”

“Oh, Jack isn’t going to talk to her.”

“You know him?”

“He’s my brother,” Kat chimes.

“He is?”

“Yeah, he’s five and sad no one wants us. I’m eight. I like your hair, it’s like mine. You look like me,” she chimes, shaking her head of curls. I smile, looking over at Adena to see Jack was smiling at her, “your wife made him laugh! She must have super powers.”

“She does, Adena is a real superhero.”

“I want to go meet her!” Kat chimes, rushing over to Adena. I stand us and walk over to where Adena was talking to the two children. “Your wife said you’re a superhero! And we’re both called Kat, but sometimes I get called Katie, which is fine too.”

“Well, I think Katie is a beautiful name, as well as Kat,” Adena chimes.

“I like your voice,” Jack says quietly.

“You do?” Adena asks.

“It’s nice,” Jack nods.

“Thank you, Jack.”

“You’re welcome,” he says quietly. The four of us spend some time getting to know each other. I feel Adena take my hand in hers, squeezing it slightly as the two children start telling stories to each other. I look over and she smiles, nodding her head as we speak silently to each other.

“Are you going to take us home?” Katie chimes, looking at us with big brown eyes.

“My wife and I have to talk a little bit,” Adena says, taking Katie’s hands, “but would you like to come home with us?”

“Both of us?” Jack asks, looking at us with piercing blue eyes, a stark contrast to his sister’s.

“Both of you,” I smile.


	17. Chapter 17

-Adena POV-

“Stupid son of a bitch!” I hear Kat shout as I walk past the guest room, soon to become Katie and Jack’s room. I walk into to see her trying her hardest to put together the bunk bed without issues or help, seeming to be failing at the task.

“Hey, Baby,” I chime, walking in and crouching down beside her, placing my hand on her back, “are you okay?”

“I’m annoyed,” she whines.

“You’re doing it for our kids if that helps.”

“It does, but still.”

“You’ll be okay.”

“We have to make sure it’s sturdy.”

“You can climb up there and make sure.”

“You don’t want to climb up with me?” She smiles, resting her forehead on my shoulder.

“I think you can handle it,” I whisper into the top of her head.

“Okay. If I scream then it broke, and this is no longer bunk beds.

“Okay,” I chime, leaning in to kiss her, “I love you.”

“I love you. Did we make a good choice?”

“I think so,” I nod.

“When are they coming?”

“We get to pick them up on Saturday.”

“I’m excited. Honestly.”

“I am too. Are we going to get them settled first and then take them to get what they need, or do you just want to take them right away?”

“We’ll ask them what they want to do,” Kat says, pulling me into her lap and kissing the side of my head, “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I say, pulling her in for a kiss, “Katie looks a bit like you.”

“I know. And Jack is so a beautiful little boy.”

“We have to register him for school, or do you think we should hold him back?”

“I think we’ll probably cross that bridge when we get to it, and I know it’s soon, but we have a couple of weeks. Katie I think should go right into third grade, she seems like she’s up to date education wise.”

“We’ll figure it all out,” I say, holding her close.

“I look forward to it.”

“So do I.”

* * *

"Okay, sign here,” the older woman, whose name is Sue, says, pointing to different parts of the documents. She continued to tell us where to sign for about six pages. “Okay,” She chimes, “are you ready for your son and daughter?”

“Yes, we are,” I say, taking Kat’s hand and squeezing it a bit.

“Okay, Katie and Jack are just getting their things together and then they’re all yours. We’ll be doing a check in soon and an unannounced visit within the next six months to make sure everything is going well, you both have said that weekday evenings are better for that visit, so we’ll try to keep that in mind.”

“Of course, I know I’ll be taking a step back from working for a little while,” I say.

“Well hopefully not too long, it’s been a while since you’ve had work out,” Sue chimes.

“As soon as I have a showing, I will invite you personally, Sue,” I chime.

“Thank you, I appreciate it,” Sue chimes, looking over my shoulder, “oh wonderful, Katie and Jack are ready to go,” she says, waving the children in. Kat turns around with a smile, opening her arms as Katie runs over, jumping into them. Jack eyes me carefully, I nod, kneeling down and opening my arms to him. He smiles, rushing over to me. I wrap him in a hug, kissing the side of his head as I hold him close.

“Hi,” he whispers in my ear.

“Hello, Love,” I whisper in his ear, kissing the side of his head.

“We’re going home with you?” He asks, pulling back a bit.

“Yes, you’re coming home with us.”

“To stay forever?”

“Well, maybe not forever, you’re going to want to live on your own when you’re an adult,” Kat chimes with a smile as she holds Katie on her hip.

“Well, you’ll be with us for a long time, regardless.”

“Okay,” Jack smiles, burying his face in the crook of my neck.

“Let’s go, Sweetheart,” I say, taking the duffle bag with his belongings.

“Thank you again for all of your help, Sue. My wife and I really appreciate it,” Kat chimes, grabbing Katie’s bag. We walk out the door and onto the curb, thankfully it wasn’t too cold for early November.

“Would you guys like to go home, or would you like to go shopping?”

“Can we go home?” Jack asks, pulling back a bit.

“I want to go shopping!” Katie chimes.

“Why don’t you take him home and I’ll take her shopping?” Kat asks.

“Okay. Can you pick him up a few things too? A could of outfits, toothbrush and all?”

“Of course,” Kat smiles, “what do you like Jack? Superheroes?”

“Yeah, I like superheroes,” he says with a smile.

“Okay,” Kat smiles, leaning in to kiss me, “I’ll see you both back at home. Do you want me to get anything?”

“No, if you want to you can bring something home for dinner, but don’t worry about it. We have some stuff in the fridge.”

“Okay.”

“Remember, Katie has a peanut allergy. Keep an EpiPen in your bag,” I say, reaching into the pocket of Katie’s duffle bag, “better to be safe than sorry. Especially if she isn’t sure how sensitive she is. We have to read through her records and get them both set up with a doctor.”

“Ben is willing to come by and do a once over with them until we can get them to a proper doctor,” Kat chimes.

“We should take him up on that. Okay, get going, be careful, keep her close,” I smile, caressing Kat’s cheek, “Be good for Kat, and get whatever you want,” I say as Katie looks at me with a smile.

“Okay!” She chimes.

* * *

I walk through the door with Jack in my hip, “home sweet home,” I chime, watching as the boy pulls back a bit, taking in his surrounding.

“Where’s my room?” He asks, wiggling out of my arms.

“You’re going to be sharing a room with your sister,” I say, leading him towards his room. He walks in and smiles.

“Can I sleep on the top?”

“Well, you’re here first, so I think it’s fair you get to pick first,” I chime, watching as he smiles, climbing the small ladder and lying on his bed, “what kind of sheets do you want? I could ask Kat to get you special ones.”

“Superhero sheets, please.”

“I’ll see what she can do,” I smile, walking up beside the bed. He rests his chin on the railing, looking at me with a smile as he leans forward, kissing my forehead, “thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he smiles.

“Do you want some time to yourself to get settled?”

“Okay,” he smiles. I pull out my phone, texting Kat his request as I walk out of the room, “Adena?”

“Yes, Love?”

“Where are you going?”

“I want to change, I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” he says, sitting up on his bed.

“I’ll leave the door open, and I’ll be right in,” I say, walking into my room and changing quickly. I walk back in by Jack to see he hasn’t moved an inch, “ready to see the rest of the apartment?”

“Okay,” Jack smiles, climbing down.

“Right across this hallway is the bathroom,” I say, opening the door to show him.

“That’s a bath?”

“It is, do you like baths?”

“Yes, I don’t like showers, but sometimes it was easier.”

“Well, you can take all the baths you want,” I smile.

“Really?”

“Of course,” I chime, kissing the top of his head, “this bathroom is for you and your sister to share.”

“Okay.” We walk further down the hallway to mine and Kat’s room.

“This is where Kat and I are. If you ever need one of us or have a bad dream, you come and get us, don’t be afraid of waking us up.”

“Okay,” he smiles.

“Do you want anything?”

“Can I have a snack?”

“Sure. Come on,” I chime, leading the way into the kitchen, “Kat and I went shopping yesterday and we bought a lot of different snacks, nothing with peanut butter or peanuts.”

“That’s good! I saw Katie get sick once from peanuts, it was scary.”

“I could imagine. This is your snack cabinet, right next to the fridge. And the bottom drawer has all your cold snacks, fruit, and juice boxes. There’s also little water bottles, all for you and your sister.”

“Dena?”

“Yes, Jack?”

“What do you do for a job?” He asks, taking a packet of fruit snacks and walking over to the table.

“I take pictures.”

“You can make money doing that?”

“Yes,” I laugh, “would you like to see some of the photos I’ve taken?”

“Okay.” I get up and walk over to the bookcase, pulling out one of my books, placing it down in front of the little boy, he smiles, opening the front cover and turning to the first page, a photo I took standing on The Great Wall, “where was this?”

“I took that on a trip to China. Do you have an idea where China is?”

“Far away,” he chimes with a smile.

“That’s right,” I laugh, reaching over to where Kat’s iPad was and showing him on a map.

“That is far from here. I never been anywhere but New York.”

“Where would you like to go?”

“New York is fine,” he shrugs, turning to the next page, “where was this one?”

“That’s the Eiffel Tower in France,” I say, showing him France on the map, “Jack, where would you like to go in the world?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you think I’ll make a promise and not keep it?”

“It happened before. My real mommy did it all the time,” he says, putting his hand over his face. I pull him into my lap, allowing him to cry for a few moments. I rub his back, feeling him start to calm down, “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I say, wiping the tears from his eyes, “whatever promises Kat and I make to you, I want you to know it will be kept. We may not get to it right away, but it will be kept.”

“Okay,” he nods, “I want to go to Disney World, please.”

“Kat and I will arrange it,” I smile, holding him close when he throws his arms around my neck, We are going to take care of you, don’t worry about that. We will always take care of you from here on.”

“Okay.”

Katie and Kat come walking into the apartment, arms filled with bags. I jumped up, helping Kat, “hey,” she smiles, kissing me quickly.

“How was shopping?”

“Good, we have a little fashionista on our hands,” Kat chimes.

“Well, Sutton is going to have fun with her.”

“She is. Hey, Jack.”

“Yeah?” He chimes, continuing to look through my book.

“I found you Batman sheets.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I hope that’s okay.”

“It’s okay! I like Batman!”

“Awesome, I’ll put them on soon.”

“Okay,” he smiles.

“Is everything okay?” Kat whispers in my ear.

“Yeah, we’ll talk tonight,” I smile, kissing her cheek.

“Okay.”

 

-Kat POV-

Adena walks into our room, lying down beside me, wrapping her arms around my waist. “Hey, did they fall asleep?”

“Yeah, it took a little bit, but I think they were both really tired.”

“Yeah, it was a long day.”

“It was,” Adena mumbles into my neck.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“I promised Jack we’re taking him to Disney World.”

“Okay,” I chuckle. Adena pulls back and looks up at me with her eyebrows raised, “what?”

“He started crying when I told him we would keep our promises to him, well before that. He said his real mom never kept her promises.”

“Well, we’re here for him now, and for Katie. If he wants to go to Mars, we’re keeping that promise.”

“I love you,” she says, pushing me onto my back and kissing me hard as she moves to straddle my waist.

“I love you, too,” I smile, wrapping my arms around her. 


	18. Chapter 18

-Kat POV-

I wake up to the sensation of someone poking my arm. I open my eyes to see Jack, wiping his eyes, “Hey, Bud. What’s wrong?”

“I had a bad dream,” he whispers, “Dena said I can come in here when I have a bad dream.”

“Come on, climb in,” I say, pulling back the sheet and moving toward Adena so Jack had room. I feel Adena begin to stir slightly before turning to face me.

“What’s happening?” She asks, her voice thick with sleep as she wraps her arm around my waist.

“Jack had a bad dream, he’s climbing in with us.”

“Can I go in the middle?” He asks. I look at him with a small smile, lifting him up a bit as I moved in one swift move back to where I was, placing him between Adena and myself.

“When did you get so strong?” Adena asks, slightly surprised by what I had just done.

“CrossFit with Sutton, some girl she is into does it,” I mumble, making myself comfortable again. I hear Jack giggle before shifting to make himself comfortable.

“Was it a scary dream?” I hear Adena ask the little boy.

“No it was sad, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“That’s fine, Love.”

“Go back to sleep, before you know it we’ll be having to wake up.”

* * *

I wake up to a small face in front of mine, I look at the little boy smiling at me, “Good morning,” I chime, “did you sleep better after your dream?”

“Yeah,” Jack chimes, “your bed is cozy.”

“Adena is to thank for that, she wanted to make sure the bed was super cozy.”

“My bed was cozy, I just had a bad dream.”

“I know, Kiddo,” I chime sitting up straight. I pick up my phone and see it was nearly eight in the morning, “would you like breakfast?”

“Okay,” he smiles, climbing down from the bed. We walk into the living area to see Adena was praying, “what’s she doing?” Jack whispers as he follows me into the kitchen.

“Adena is praying.”

“Why does she pray like that?”

“It’s her religion, she’s a Muslim, they pray facing the sun.”

“Oh, okay. Can I have cereal? Katie said you let her get sugary cereal.”

“I did, you want some Froot Loops?”

“Yes please,” he smiles. I fix him a bowl of cereal, placing it in front of him when Adena walks up behind me, kissing me quickly.

“Good morning,” she says.

“Good morning,” I chime, kissing her quickly.

“Did you like sleeping in our bed, Jack?” Adena asks, fixing herself a cup of coffee.

“Your bed is cozy, Kat said to thank you, Dena, it was your idea,” he explains with a mouthful of cereal.

“Oh you’re welcome,” she chuckles, grabbing the towel off the hook and wiping the milk from his chin, “you should finish eating before you talk, Bud. It’s not polite to talk with your mouth full.”

“Okay, Dena. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, you’re learning,” she chimes, kissing his forehead.

“Good morning,” Katie smiles, climbing up into the seat at the counter.

“Good morning, how did you sleep?”

“Good, can I have some cereal?”

“Of course,” Adena chime, fixing Katie a bowl.

“Are we doing anything today?” Katie asks.

“What would you like to do?” Adena asks, leaning back against the counter across from the kids. Katie and Jack look at each other for a moment.

“Can we go to the museum with the dinosaurs?” Jack asks, looking down at his bowl of cereal.

“I don’t see why not,” Adena chimes, looking over at me.

“Yeah, we can go there.”

* * *

"Wow!” Katie chimes as we walk through the entrance of the museum, “that’s a real dinosaur?”

“It was,” Adena says, taking the little girl’s hand.

“It was a real dinosaur, Kat?” Jack whispers in the crook of my neck as I adjusted him on my hip.

“Yes, Sir. It was a real dinosaur. Do you like dinosaurs? I meant to ask you earlier.”

“Yeah, I used to have dinosaur toys before I went to the foster home.”

“Would you like it if we got you new dinosaur toys today?”

“Yeah,” he says with a small smile, “I really would.”

“Well, we’ll make sure we get you some,” I smile, kissing his cheek.

“All set,” Adena chimes, walking over with Katie.

“Can we go now!”

“The girl said we should work our way down, so we’ll go to the top floor.”

“Okay,” I smile, “do you want to walk?”

“Not yet,” Jack says, wrapping his arms around my neck a bit tighter.

“Okay,” I whisper in his ear, kissing his cheek. As soon as we made it to the top floor and stepped out of the elevator, Jack was wiggling out of my arms, rushing over to get a better look at everything, “don’t go too far.”

“I won’t I promise,” He says, taking my hand in his and dragging me over to look at some prehistoric creature, “Kat, can you take a picture if me with the dinosaur?”

“I think Adena has that covered,” I chime, pointing to where Adena was taking pictures on her camera and phone.

“Jack, come here,” Katie waves him over. He runs towards his sister with a smile, both of them sticking their faces to the glass of an enclosure. I walk up next to Adena as she takes pictures, placing my hand on her back. She looked at me with a smile, kissing my cheek before she goes back to taking pictures.

“Kat?”

“Yeah, Bud?”

“Can we keep going?”

“Yeah, just not too far, don’t leave this room.”

“Okay,” Katie chimes, leading her little brother towards something else.

“Jack said he misses his dinosaur toys,” I inform Adena.

“Well we aren’t leaving this place without some new ones,” she chimes.

“I love you,” I smile, kissing her sweetly.

“I love you, too. Did you think I would have said no?”

“No, but I just want to make them happy.”

“I know you do, I do too,” Adena says, taking my hand in hers as we follow the kids from one enclosure to another. Adena taking pictures of their excitement and wonder.

“Dena?” Jack asks, pulling at Adena’s shirt.

“Yes, Jack.”

“Can you take a picture of me and Kat in front of the dinosaur?”

“Of course,” Adena chimes, I pick Jack up and walk over to where he wanted our picture taken. We smile and she takes the picture, showing it to us.

“Can I hang it up on my wall by my bed?”

“Of course you can, Love,” Adena smiles, kissing his cheek.

“Thank you,” Jack smiles. We make our way through the rest of the museum, Adena taking photos left and right like a crazy person. As we make our way to the gift shop, Jack zeros in a collection of different dinosaurs. He looks over his shoulder, locking eyes with me. I nod, smiling as I walk towards him and watch his face light up. He starts grabbing at as many different dinosaurs as he can, raptors falling from one arm, and triceratops from another.

“Hang on there,” I say, walking over to catch a palling pterodactyl.

“I want them all, Mommy!” He smiles, catching me off guard at the name.

“You can get them all, Sweetheart,” I say, trying to hold back the tears that wanted to spill.

“Kat? Katie wants a telescope, do you think we can fit it in their room?” Adena chimes, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s happy crying. Jack called me mommy.”

“He did?” She gasps, smiling as she puts her hand over her mouth. Only for her to slap my arm.

“Ow, what was that for?”

“You got called mom before I did,” she whines.

“Sorry?”

“Don’t be,” she says, caressing my cheek before kissing me.

“Mama! Dinosaurs!” Jack roars, tugging at Adena.

“Of course, Love,” she says, a tear falling down her cheek as she picks him up and kisses his cheek.

“Why are you crying?”

“I’m just happy,” Adena chimes.

“Kat! Can I get this? It has my name.”

“Of course,” I smile, “and we’ll get you the telescope. It will fit by the window in the living room, and you’ll have a better chance at seeing the stars and not the building next to us.”

“Thank you, Kat.”

 

-Adena POV-

I walk into the living room from our bedroom to see Katie and Kat looking through Katie’s telescope while Jack was playing with his dinosaurs on the coffee table, “See any planets?” I ask Kat as I walk up behind her, placing my hand on her shoulder.

“No, but the neighbor next door is pretty hot,” she teases as I shove her playfully.

“Are you having a Rear Window moment?”

“No, just stating a fact,” she shrugs, kissing my cheek.

“Well, you can gawk all you want, no one knows you as I do,” I whisper in her ear, causing her to shiver a bit.

“I would only gawk,” she whispers, kissing me.

“Ew!” Jack grimaces from where he was playing. Kat and I look at him to see him giggling.

“You, mister, are lucky you’re cute,” I say, walking over to him and tickling his sides. He laughs loudly, I kiss his cheek when he begins to calm down.

“Guys, I want to talk to you about something,” Kat chimes, sitting on the couch beside Jack and me, as Katie finds her way over, “I’m sure you both know what Thanksgiving is.”

“It’s a holiday!” Katie chimes.

“It is,” Kat smiles, “how would you feel about meeting some new people that day?”

“Like who?”

“Well, my mom and dad would like to meet you, as well as some of our friends.”

“What about Adena’s mom and dad?” Katie asks.

“My mother lives a bit too far away, but she’ll come and visit us soon. And we can talk to her on the computer with Skype.”

“I would like to do that,” Jack says, “I would like to see your mommy.”

“We’ll Skype her one day soon.”

“Okay,” Jack chimes.

“So, what I want to know if is you guys are ready to start meeting your family?” Kat asks, resting her elbows on her knees as she clasps her hands together.

“They’re our family now too?”

“Of course, Love,” I say, kissing the side of Jack’s head.

“When?” Katie asks.

“Well, my friends Jane and Sutton want to come over and meet you both soon. My parents are having Thanksgiving at their house, so we have to wait to meet them. But that’s only a couple of weeks from now.”

“Okay,” Katie nods, “Can I go back to finding aliens?”

“Yes,” Kat laughs, “you can go back to finding aliens.”

“Thank you,” Katie chimes, skipping back over to her telescope.

“Are your friends nice?” Jack asks, looking between me and Kat.

“They are very nice and are very excited to meet you. Jane has two kids of her own, they are a little over a year old now I think, or just about a year. She’s married to a doctor, who we’re going to take you to see.”

“Is he nice?”

“He’s very nice,” I say with a reassuring tone.

“What about your other friend?”

“Sutton is the fun friend, she’s going to love both of you and make sure you have the best clothes in the world,” Kat explains, causing Jack to laugh.

“I can’t wait to meet them!”

“We can’t wait for you to meet them,” I chime, kissing his cheek.

“Can you play dinosaurs with me, Mama?” Jack chimes.

“Of course, Love,” I whisper, brushing the curls from his face. 


	19. Chapter 19

-Kat POV-

Adena walked in and out of our room as we got ready to go to my parents’ for the holiday, she seemed slightly neurotic, “Uhm, Babe?” I say, watching her in the mirror as I fixed my hair.

“What Kat?”

“Calm down,” I say, taking her into my arms and holding her close.

“I’m sorry, I’m just freaking out a bit,” she mumbles against my chest.

“I see that,” I laugh, kissing the top of her head, “everything is going to be okay.”

“I know, I just want to make sure we have everything we need, I don’t want to forget anything either.”

“We’ll be fine. You know they’re going to be up soon.”

“I know,” Adena sighs. It took about two weeks for us to have the kids form and stick to a schedule, much to the excitement of Adena and I. It was Thanksgiving and Adena was getting everything ready for the ride onto Long Island to go to my parent’s house.

“Relax then a bit, the ride isn’t that long, and everything will be fine. They are going to meet people who are going to love them no matter what.”

“I know, I know. I just don’t want anything to happen. Like what if Katie has an allergic reaction. What if Jack starts to get upset, I don’t know what to prepare for.”

“You’re adorable,” I say with a smile, leaning in to kiss her, “everything will be fine, and there is nothing to worry about. It’s an hour long car ride, max. They’ll be fine,” I say reassuringly, smiling when we hear the pitter patter of feet coming down the hallway.

“Good morning!” Jack chimes, running into the room and jumping up onto our bed.

“Sweetheart, be careful. Mama is enough of a wreck this morning,” I chime, grabbing him by the waist and holding him.

“Why is Mama a wreck?”

“She just is nervous. It’s going to be your first long car ride and you’re going to be meeting my family, it’s a lot.”

“I’m excited, Mama, don’t worry,” Jack says, reaching out to Adena.

“I won’t worry so much now,” Adena smiles, “thank you,” she chimes, kissing his cheek.

“Happy Thanksgiving, Mama.”

“Happy Thanksgiving, Love.”

“You too, Mommy.”

“Thanks, Sweetie,” I chime, kissing his cheek, “are you hungry?”

“Yes,” he nods.

“Do you want to help me make french toast?”

“Really?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t make that up.”

“Okay!” He chimes, wiggling out of Adena’s arms.

“Coffee?” I ask, pulling Adena into me by her waist.

“Yes please,” she nods, placing her hands on my chest.

“I love you,” I mumble as I lean in to kiss her.

“I love you too.”

“Come on Mama!” I roll my eyes a bit and smile, making my way into the kitchen.

“Don’t shout, Bud. I don’t want you to wake up your sister.”

“I’m already up,” Katie chimes, walking out of the bathroom, “I heard someone say french toast.”

“I did,” I chime, running my hand through her curly hair.

“I love french toast.”

“Do you want to help me and Jack?”

“Can I go by Adena?”

“Of course, you can do whatever you want, after breakfast we’re going to get ready to go.”

“Okay,” Katie chimes, walking down the hall to our bedroom.

“Ready?” I ask Jack, who was standing on his step-stool at the counter. Since getting comfortable, Jack insisted on always helping either Adena or myself in the kitchen when we were cooking, mostly Adena of course. So she made sure to get him the proper step-stool and his own apron for when he wants to help cooking.

“Ready,” He chimes, bouncing a bit. We take our time making breakfast after I put on a pot of coffee. As soon as the scent of coffee began to fill the air, Adena made her way into the kitchen, “do you want some, Mama?” Jack asks, holding up a plate for Adena.

“Of course. Did you help Kat?”

“Yeah. I dipped the bread in the eggs, and mixed the eggs too!”

“You are amazing, Jack,” Adena chimes, giving him a high-five. I fix Adena a coffee and she smiles when I hand her the mug, “thank you, Baby.”

“You’re welcome,” I chime, kissing her cheek, “Okay everyone, take some french toast, then we have to start getting ready.”

“Okay,” Jack and Katie said in unison.

* * *

“Is this it?” Adena asks, pulling up to the gate.

“Yeah, the number is 7839.”

“Is there a reason you never brought me here?”

“They are usually in the city, besides they moved here after I moved out. I’m rarely ever here except for holidays sometimes. They want to show the kids there’s somewhere to visit them that isn’t the city. They even made up rooms for the two of them.”

“That’s sweet and all. I just can’t believe this house looks like our apartment building,” Adena chimes, driving up the driveway.

“They’re very well off and successful psychiatrists.”

“I see that.”

“Kat’s mommy and daddy live in a castle?” Katie chimes from the back seat.

“It isn’t a castle, but yes, they live here.”

“Wow.”

“Are you guys ready?” I ask, turning to look back at them. Katie nods excitedly as she undoes her seat belt. While Jack just looks out the window, “Jack, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he says quietly.

“Sweetheart, don’t be nervous,” Adena says with a smile.

“What if they don’t like us?”

“They are going to love you,” I say, reaching out and giving his knee a squeeze.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m super sure,” I smile, “let’s go,” I chime, getting out of the car. I go around and help Jack seeing as Katie was dragging Adena towards the house.

“Are they really going to like me?”

“They are going to love you,” I say, holding him onto my hip.

“Are they nice?”

“They are both very nice, and are looking forward to meeting you.”

“Okay,” he mumbles against my neck. I meet up with Adena and Katie who were standing at the door.

“Ready?” I ask, taking Adena’s free hand and lacing our fingers together.

“Can I knock?” Katie asks, looking up at Adena and me.

“Of course,” I nod. Katie knocks a few times. We wait for a moment only to see my mother open the door with a smile.

“Hello,” She chimes, “come in, out of the cold. How is everything?”

“Well thank you,” Adena chimes, giving my mother a hug.

“Mom, where’s Dad?”

“He’s in the living room with Uncle Jack,” she chimes.

“You have an Uncle Jack?” Jack whispers in my ear.

“I do, he’s my dad’s brother,” I explain, leading the way into the living room.

“Susan, we want to introduce you all properly,” Adena says, waving my mother over.

“Hey, there she is,” My dad chimes, wrapping me in a hug, “you must be Jack.”

“Yeah,” Jack whispers.

“Well, I am Marcus, you can call me that. Or if you’re comfortable enough you are more than welcome to call me grandpa.”

“You and Kat have nice eyes,” Jack chimes, “You are a nice person.”

“I am a very nice person,” My dad smiles.

“Yeah.”

“Jack, I’m Susan, you can call me grandma when you’re ready to,” My mom says with a smile.

“Kat has the same smile you do,” the little boy says.

“Thank you, Jack,” Mom smiles. Katie was already making her way around the room, introducing herself to all of my aunts and uncles, and even a few cousins, not worrying about anything. She was the more outgoing one compared to Jack.

“I want to get down,” he whispers. I kiss him on the cheek before putting him on his feet. Helping him fix his vest. He makes his way over to my father and Uncle Jack, climbing up onto the couch to sit between the two of them. I smile, feeling Adena walk up beside me, placing her hand on the small of my back.

“All okay?”

“Yeah, he likes my dad. He says my dad has nice eyes, so he’s a nice person.”

“That little boy is very wise beyond his years.”

“He is,” I smile, turning to face Adena, “how’s Katie?”

“She’s already taken a liking to your grandmother, as well as the rest of the family.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, they’re in the kitchen making a pie,” Adena chimes.

“Well, looks like there wasn’t anything to worry about.”

“No, there wasn’t,” Adena laughs, kissing my cheek, “yet we will always worry.”

“We’ve been parents for two weeks and have worried more than we have in the past two and a half years.”

“It’s worth it though.”

“Of course it is.”  
“Mama?” Jack chimes, standing up on the couch.

“Yes, Love?” Adena answers, walking over to him.

“Can I have a drink?”

“Of course,” she says, picking him up and walking him into the kitchen. I follow them and see my grandmother and mom at the counter as Katie helps them both with what they are cooking.

“Is she behaving?” I chime, walking over and pouring myself a glass of wine.

“Kat, she is the sweetest little thing in the world.”

“Thanks, Grandma.”

“She looks like you too, I didn’t think you were going to adopt older children.”

“Katie and Jack were too cute to let go, we compromised and are happy with our choice,” Adena chimes, fixing Jack a cup with juice.

“You two seem to just fall right into motherhood, didn’t you?” Mom asks, watching Adena carefully.

“You could say that, Susan,” Adena smiles as she put Jack down.

“Adena and Kat are the best!” Katie chimes, “we have bunk beds, and we get to have sugary cereal in the morning, but only when Kat’s home to make breakfast,” she chuckles, knowing she gave up a secret.

“I knew the box of Froot Loops was going down quicker than expected,” Adena chimes, shoving me playfully.

“You blew our secret, Kid!”

“I’m sorry,” Katie giggled.

“Now Kat isn’t going to be in charge of breakfast during the week,” Adena chimes.

“I’m sorry, Kat.”

“Don’t apologize to me, you’re going to be eating eggs Monday through Friday,” I say, raising my glass to her, a gesture she doesn’t understand, but laughs at. More of my family starts to arrive, much to the excitement of Katie, seeing as she is always up for meeting new people. I feel someone tugging at my blouse, I look down to see Jack. He waves me down, I crouch to be at his level, “what’s up?”

“There’s a boy here, he’s my age.”

“Yes, that’s my cousin, Matty.”

“Can I play with him?”

“Of course,” I smile, watching as he then runs back into the living room.

“Kat!” My Aunt Lori chimes, walking over and wrapping me in a hug, “how are you?”

“Well thank you.”

“Adena, you look lovely,” Lori chimes, letting go of me and pulling Adena in for a hug, “I heard you two are mothers now?”

“Yes, Jack can you come here?” Adena calls out, only to have Jack appear seconds later, “this is our son, Jack, and our daughter Katie.”

“Hi!” Katie chimes.

“Hello,” Jack says quietly.

“You two are beautiful, are you brother and sister?”

“Yes, I’m eight-years-old, Jack’s five!”

“You seem very smart for your age.”

“That’s what Adena has told me,” she laughs.

“Well it’s true,” Lori smiles.

* * *

Adena and I were sitting in the dining room with the adults while Katie and Jack were sitting at the kid’s table in the next room over. I watched as the two of them talked animatedly to the rest of the kids, especially Jack, who seemed to strike up a quick friendship with my cousin Matty.

“They seem to be enjoying themselves,” Adena whispers in my ear.

“I’m happy Jack seems to have gotten out of his shell.”

“Me too,” Adena smiles.

“Mama,” I hear Jack chime as he pulls at my sleeve.

“What’s wrong, Bud?” I ask, running my fingers through his curls.

“I’m tired,” he whines, climbing into my lap. I kiss the top of his head and start rubbing his back as I fell back into the conversation with Adena and the adults of my family.

“I never thought I would see you be a mother, Kat,” my grandmother chimes, “I know that sounds awful, but I just didn’t pin you as the mother type.”

“I didn’t pin myself as the type either until things started to get serious with Adena,” I smile, taking her hand in mine.

“I am grateful she was able to change her mind,” Adena chimes, causing everyone to laugh.

“Adena?” Katie asks, walking up beside her.

“What is it, Love?”

“When are we having dessert?”

“When we’re cleaned up, did you eat enough dinner before you go filling up on cookies?”

“Yes, I did,” Katie chimes.

“Okay, Love,” Adena smiles, kissing Katie’s forehead. Jack ended up falling asleep in my lap, resulting in me not wanting to move from the dining room table. Adena disappears into the kitchen only to come back with a cup of coffee soon after.

“Thank you,” I smile, leaning up to kiss her.

“I think I’ll put together a dessert tray for him, and we’ll get going.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t want to go,” Jack whines sleepily into my chest.

“We have to go home, Love. Grandma and grandpa have to get ready for tomorrow, and we have some things planned for this weekend.”

“Everyone else is going to leave too?”

“Yes, some of my aunts and uncles have left already, you’ve been sleeping for a little while,” I chime, running my fingers through his curls.

“Oh,” he yawns, “can we go home then?”

“We can go home,” I smile, kissing his forehead.


	20. Chapter 20

-Adena POV-

“Mama?” Jack asks, walking into the living room and climbing onto the couch beside me.

“Yes, Love?” I say, kissing his forehead and running my fingers through his hair, “I think you need a haircut.”

“No, I don’t want to.”

“Okay, Sweetie. But what’s up?”

“Do you think Santa is going to come here?” He asks. Kat and I made the decision to finally decorate for the holidays, one of the many changes that come along with getting the kids. In decorating, we bought a Christmas tree, letting the kids pick out the ornaments that went on it. We spoke to the kids about Santa, and yet, they both didn’t believe that he would make an appearance at our apartment.

“Mommy and I talked about it, why do you think he’s not going to come?” I ask, playing into his imagination.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll believe it ever.”

“Believe it, Love. You even wrote him a letter, and he wrote back!” 

“I don’t know, Mama,” he sighs, resting his head on my shoulder. 

“What’s going on in here?” Kat asks as she walks in from work.

“Is Santa really coming here?”

“Of course!” Kat chimes, taking off her coat, “why are you still questioning it?”

“I don’t know.”

“You wrote him a letter and he said not to worry, remember?”

“I guess.”

“Don’t worry, after tomorrow, you’ll have your questions answered,” Kat smiles, kissing his forehead before kissing me, “how was your day?” 

“Good. How was work?”

“I’m happy to have the time off now for the holidays.” 

“And we’ll be happy to have you home.”

“We’re going to have fun!” 

“Really?” Jack asks.

“Yes, really,” Kat smiles.

“Can we go by Grandma and Grandpa?”

“They’re going to come here for Christmas.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, we’re going to have a little Christmas here for you and Katie’s first Christmas with us,” I explain, watching his eyes light up a bit. 

“Okay, I’m going to go in my room,” he chimes, getting off of the couch and rushing down the hall.

 

-Kat POV-

“Is he still that worried about the Santa thing? And where is Katie? She’s very quiet.”

“She wasn’t feeling good and wanted to go lie down in our bed.”

“Oh. I hope she feels better, I wouldn’t like for her to be sick for Christmas.”

“I wouldn’t either.”    


“Mama?” Katie chimes, rubbing her eyes as she walks over, crawling into Adena’s lap. 

“What’s up, Love?”

“I’m hungry.”

“What would you like?” Adena asks, kissing the side of her head.

“I don’t know,” she shrugs. 

“Well, you can have whatever you want that’s here, I was planning on making some soup.”

“Okay,” Katie sighs, “can I watch TV in your room?”

“Yes, Love,” Adena smiles, kissing Katie’s head before Katie walks back into our room.

“We need a bigger place,” I chime, look as Adena stares at me curiously, “what?”

“Would you be mad if I told you I was already looking at places?”

“Really?” I laugh.

“Yeah, this morning it hit me that this place is smaller than we thought, and the kids each deserve their own room.”

“I feel the same way, we’ll look more tonight. We still have to try to get them to bed early enough.”

“I know, hopefully soon.”

* * *

“But what if?” Jack whines as I tuck him into bed.

“Do not worry, Love. Should just be excited that Santa is going to come. We left out the cookies and milk, you left out carrots for his reindeer, everything will work out,” I chime, kissing his forehead, “you just have to go to sleep.”

“Okay,” He smiles, kissing my cheek before turning on his side. I say goodnight to Katie before turning off the light and walking out of the room. I wall into the bedroom to see Adena sitting in the middle of the floor, wrapping gifts for my parents. I walk over, sitting behind her and wrapping my arms around her waist.

“It’s harder to do this when I have a grown woman hanging on my back,” she teases, turning her head to kiss me. 

“I love you,” I whisper in her ear.

“I love you too, can you help me wrap this box for your dad?”

“If I must,” I sigh melodramatically. I help Adena with the rest of the gifts before quietly carrying them out into the living room, putting them under the tree when I see something move out of the corner of my eye, “Jack.”

“Hi, Mama,” he smiles, peaking out from behind the couch, “who are those for?”

“Those are for grandma and grandpa from me and mama.”

“Oh, Santa didn’t come yet?”

“He’ll only come when he knows you are asleep.”

“Okay,” Jack sighs, making his way back into his room. I watch him make his way back to his room, meeting Adena in the hallway, stopping to give her a kiss before continuing on his way. 

“He’s going to be up half the night,” Adena smiles, sitting on the couch and taking the laptop from the coffee table. 

“Are you going to talk about houses?” I asked, flopping down beside her.

“I would like to, there are a few just a couple of blocks over that aren’t too bad to buy, seeing as we both make really great salaries and have savings, I think we can manage. The only question is should we do three or four bedrooms?”

“For planning ahead, or do you want a home studio?"   


“Home studio, for know, who knows what will happen. I think I still would like to have a baby.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, adoption of course, but I would look to experience the entire early childhood experience,” she shrugs.

“We’ll see. The kids are starting school in the new year, which should be great for each of them, and we’ll see where we go from there,” I smile, kissing the side of her head.

“Okay, so this one is nice, not too far from here, conveniently within the school district…” Adena continues to sell me on reasons why she likes different places as far as staying in Brooklyn. It was getting late and we both decided it was time for bed.

* * *

“He did come!” Jack shouts, running into the bedroom and jumping on the bed. I open my eyes to see him glowing as he pulls me out of bed, “come on, Mommy!”

“Did Mama make coffee?”

“Yes, she said it's waiting for you when you get your butt out of bed.” I laugh, sitting up and watching Jack rush out of the room. I get out of bed, walking down the hall to see Katie and Jack waiting patiently to open the sea of gifts around each of them. I smile, walking over to where Adena was sitting, holding out a cup of coffee for me with a smile, “Merry Christmas,” she whispers in my ear before kissing my cheek.

“Same to you,” I smile, kissing her properly.

“Can we open them now?” Katie chimes.

“It seems like someone is feeling better,” I tease, “yes, go at it!” Both kids smile before going towards their respectable pile of gifts that Santa left them, as well as a few thrown in by Adena and myself. 

“We did well,” she whispers in my ear, she gets up from the couch and starts walking towards the kitchen only to hear a knock at the door, “I thought your parents were coming later?”

“We’ve probably lost track of time,” I shrug as she walks towards the door, she opens the door and screams.

“Mama!” She shouts, wrapping her mother in a tight hug, tears running down her cheeks.

“I may not have raised you to celebrate this holiday, but is this a good Christmas present or what?”

“The best ever, come in, are you staying here?”

“No, no. I’m staying at a hotel, I’ve been here since last night and figured it would be easier,” Ester explains. 

“That’s fine, would you like to meet Jack and Katie?”

“Of course, that’s part of the reason I came all this way,” she smiles, walking towards where I was sat in the couch, “Hello, Kat,” Ester smiles wrapping me in a hug. 

“You got in okay? Everything was as expected?” I whispered in her ear.

“Yes, Love. Everything was perfect.”

“Kat knew?”

“I convinced her to come, she didn’t want to but when I forced her by buying the ticket,” I explain. Adena walks towards me, wrapping me in a tight hug.

“Thank you, my love. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome,” I smile, kissing her softly.

“Katie, Jack. Take a break quick, there’s someone here I want you to meet,” Adena smiles, both kids do what they are told and make their way over. 

“Are you Nana?” Katie asks with a smile.

“I am,” Ester chimes, “you must be Katie, and you are Jack.”

“Yeah,” Jack nods, “I got a dinosaur t-shirt!” He chimes excitedly, holding up the shirt in his hands.

“Mama has told me you were a fan of dinosaurs,” Ester chimes, “Kat, do me a favor and get the suitcase by the door.” I do what is told of me, bringing over the suitcase before going into the kitchen. I walk up to Adena with a smile. 

“Thank you,” she smiles, “I’m probably going to thank you so much today and tomorrow you’re going to get annoyed with hearing it.”

“Never, I wanted the kids to meet her. Besides, you haven’t been able to see her in a long time, and who knows when we would be able to go visit her, so I brought her here and took care of it all.”

“Mama look what Nana got me!” Jack chimes rushing over to us, “Dinosaurs!” He shouts, waving a pair of dinosaur pajamas in front of us.

“That’s wonderful, Sweetheart.”

“And this cool dinosaur backpack for school!” 

“Awesome, Jack!” I chime as he runs back into the living room, “do you think he’s seen the Jurrasic Park movies? I know the T-Rex is a bit much, but I doubt he’d be scared of it.”

“I think one day this week we’ll have a movie day with them and watch Jurrasic Park,” Adena smiles, kissing my cheek. She picks up the cup of tea she was fixing her mother and made her way into the living room. 

“Hey, Jack, have you ever seen Jurrasic Park?” 

“Dinosaurs!” He chimes excitedly, nodding his head with a smile on his face.

“He used to watch it all the time before everything with our mom happened,” Katie informs. 

“Well, we’re going to have a movie night and watch them all, would you like that?”   


“Yeah, after that can we watch all the Disney princesses?”

“We can have a princess movie marathon, yes,” I smile, kissing the top of her head. I follow Katie into the living room to see Adena and her mother sitting on the couch catching up while Jack sat by the tree playing with some of his toys. I stood back, taking in the scene in front of me feeling a warmth run through my body. This was home, and there wasn’t anything I wanted to change about it, except maybe a bigger place.

* * *

It has been two weeks since Adena and I spoke about moving and we were in the full swing of looking at different houses and apartments. Adena was more into it this time around, being a bit more hands-on than from what I remember. We were lying in bed after a rather long day, the kids weren’t feeling too good, resulting in both of them lying in bed with us, sprawled out in different directions. I was my laptop, working and looking at different places while Adena did the same on her iPad. Katie begins to stir a bit, looking over at us from the foot of the bed, “Hello, Love.”

“Hi, Mama,” she mumbles, crawling over and curling into Adena’s side. Adena reaches up, feeling Katie’s forehead.

“Do you feel any better?”

“I don’t know. I feel hot,” Katie whines.

“You feel warm,” Adena coos, kissing her forehead.

“I don’t want medicine, Mama.”

“I know, Sweetheart, but you need it. Kat, can you get it please, it’s on their bathroom.”

“Why do I have to be the bad guy?”

“Kat, not now. Just get it.”

“Fine,” I whine, doing what I’m told as well as getting Katie something to drink. I walk back into the room to see that Jack was now awake and lying in my spot with a small smile on his face, “excuse me, Sir,” I say playfully scooting him over, “how does he feel?”

“Better. A lot better,” Adena smiles, as I run my free hand through his hair. 

“Lovely,” I say, handing Adena the medicine and juice for Katie while handing Jack his cup of juice I grabbed just in case. 

“Thank you, Mommy,” Jack chimes.

“I’m happy you’re feeling better.”

“Can I go watch TV?”

“For a little while, then I want you in a hot bath, get all the germs off of you,” Adena chimes, staying in her spot with Katie curled up beside her.

“Okay, Mama,” Jack says before rushing out of the room.

“I know he was sleeping all day, and it’s late as it is for him, but I want him in his bed by ten,” she says, I look over at the clock to see it was already eight-thirty.

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am,” I say, saluting her. I smile when she rolls her eyes at me trying to hide the smile on her face.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I smile, walking over to kiss her sweetly. 

“Mommy! I need help!” 

“I’m being paged.”

“Go,” she smiles, kissing me again.


	21. Chapter 21

-Kat POV-

“Where are we going?” Katie asks, looking out the window of the Uber that was taking us into Manhattan.

“It’s a surprise, Love,” Adena chimes, kissing the side of Katie’s head. 

“Mama, your phone is ringing,” Jack chimes, handing Adena her phone that he was playing a game on. Adena takes the phone and smiles, answering it and talking to whoever was on the other line, “Mommy?”

“Yes, Baby,” I smile, looking at Jack.

“Where are we going?”   


“It’s a surprise.”

“Are we going to Disney?”

“Not yet, Love,” I laugh, “and we wouldn’t be going to Manhattan if that was the case,” I smile, kissing the side of his head.

“Everything is ready, Sam is waiting for us,” Adena smiles, handing her phone back to Jack so he could play his game.

“What does that mean?” Katie chimes.

“It means, you will see what’s going on when we get there,” Adena teases, kissing Katie’s forehead. We finally pull up to curb alongside a tall apartment building.

“Where are we?” Jack whines as we walk out onto the curb, meeting with Sam. 

“Hello Ladies,” Sam greets happily as we wall over to him, “everything is ready to go as soon as these little ones approve,” he smiles, leading the way into the building.

“Mama, what are we doing?” Katie asks.

“Well, Mommy and I were looking at bigger places to live and decided on this place, but we wanted to show you and Jack before we settled on it.”

“We think you are both going to like this one,” I chime as the elevator doors open.

“Do I get my own room?” Jack whispers in my ear as we walk towards the apartment door.

“You and Katie get to pick your own rooms. There are three to pick from.” 

“Really?” He asks excitedly.

“Yep,” I chime as we walk into the open floor-plan apartment, “go pick one, your rooms are that way,” I point to the opposite end of the apartment.

“I get my own bathroom!” Katie shouts from the depths of the apartment, her voice echoing in the emptiness.

“Which you will learn to clean!” Adena calls out as we follow Sam into the kitchen.

“Oh man!” 

“So, are you ladies ready to sign?” Sam asks with a smile. Adena looks at me curiously.

“I think so,” Adena nods, taking the pen from Sam. We sign paperwork and give him the rest of the information he needed before he hands us the keys.

“Congratulations on your new home,” Sam chimes.

“Thank you,” I smile, “I’m going to go find the kids,” I say, kissing Adena quickly. I make my way down the hallway where the kid’s rooms would be, I hear the two of the talking in one of the bedrooms. 

“Mommy! I want this room,” Jack chimes, rushing over to me. 

“Okay, Love,” I smile, running my fingers through his curls, “I think you should consider a hair cut.”

“No, I like it.”

“Okay,” I laugh.

“I picked the room across!” Katie chimes, “Can I paint my room?”

“We’ll have a chance to do that after we get settled,” Adena smiles from the doorway.

“Okay, Mama,” Katie smiles.

* * *

I walk into our bedroom to see Adena sitting on the floor going through the drawers on the dresser. I walk over, sitting behind her and wrapping my arms around her waist.

“Hi,” She chimes, turning her head slightly, kissing my neck, “did they finally get to sleep?”

“After a couple of stories, and telling them that we are going to start packing tomorrow.”

“They’re excited.”

“I know. What are you doing?”

“Cleaning,” she says, “we have to go through a lot of this stuff before we move.”

“I know,” I whine, “it’s going to take forever.”

“So dramatic,” Adena teases turning in my arms to face me, stretching her legs behind me. She rests her forehead against mine, “I love you.”

“I love you,” I chime, kissing her softly. 

“Did we make a good choice when it comes to where we’re moving?”

“Of course, it’s prime real estate for both of us and the kids will have great schools to go to, everything will be okay.”

“What about having more kids?” 

“We just adopted the two we have now,” I laugh, “I’m not opposed to it.” 

“Maybe we can try having kids.” 

“You want to have kids?”

“I think so, would you like to be pregnant?”

“Not really, but I’m not opposed to seeing you pregnant.” 

“I think I would like to be.”

“What changed your mind? I thought we were set on adopting.” 

“We were, and then I realized we missed out on the crucial part of their development, and it made me start to reconsider.”

“Well, it isn’t in the budget at the moment, seeing as we just bought a new apartment.”

“I have enough saved to start after we get settled.” 

“How do you think the kids will handle it? How do you think Jack will handle it? He’s still insecure about things, I don’t want him thinking we wouldn’t love him anymore if we have a baby.”

“I don’t think he would feel that way. Jack knows we love him and there isn’t anything that would change that. I hope for the fact that he would enjoy having a little brother or sister.” 

“I hope so too,” I smile, leaning in to kiss her. 

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m great actually.” Adena smiles, leaning in and kissing me softly.

“Mama?” Jack chimes from the doorway, rubbing his eyes.

“What is it, Love?” Adena asks, untangling herself from me, he walks over, whispering in her ear, “why is that a secret?” He shrugs, “go into the bathroom, Mommy will help you.”

“What happened, Bud?”

“Accident.”

“It’s okay, I’ll help you clean up, Mama will change your sheet.” 

“When are we going to the new house?” He asks as he cleans himself up.

“We’re going to start moving this weekend. Would you like to shop for furniture to have in your room?”

“Okay, can we do it tomorrow?”

“We can look on the computer,” I smile, handing him a new set of pajamas.

“Okay, Mommy.”

* * *

“So how is everything going on at home?” Sutton chimes as we stop to get coffee before making it up to the office.

“We signed the papers for our new place in Manhattan,” I smile, causing Sutton to shriek.

“Really? That’s really exciting.”

“It is, we took the kids to the apartment and they loved it.” 

“Well, that’s good.”

“Yeah, they’re both open to the idea of moving, happy to have their own bedrooms. Adena brought up trying fertility treatments.”

“She wants more kids?”

“Yeah. We both do, don’t get me wrong. But I just didn’t think pregnancy would be an option.”

“Does she want to have the kid?”

“I think so. We didn’t fully get into it because Jack woke up.”

“So you want to do it?”

“I don’t know if I do. I don’t want the kids to think that we’re replacing them or something like that if there is the chance she gets pregnant.”

“Why would you worry about that?”

“I’m not so much worried about it for Katie’s sake, but more for Jack’s sake.”

“You really have a soft spot for him, don’t you?”

“I love that kid more than anything in the world. I love Katie too, don’t get me wrong, but there’s something about Jack.”

“So he’s the favorite?”

“I wouldn’t say that at all. I love them equally, and I just have a different worrying type of emotion towards him. I don’t have to worry about Katie the same way I worry about Jack, and I think Adena feels the same way. Whatever happened to them it really had an effect on him the most.”

“I never thought I’d see you this way towards a child,” Sutton chimes, “I didn’t think you could be motherly.” 

“I didn’t either, and I learn something new about myself and the kids every day. Even Adena, I knew she was going to be an amazing mother, but I managed to fall in love with her all over again every time I see her with them.”

“I wish I had that,” Sutton chimes, looking down at her coffee cup before looking up at me as both of us burst into laughter.

“You really had me there for a minute.”

“I know,” she says, wiping the tears from her eyes, “I’m happier being Auntie Sutton, even to Jane’s kids.”

“You are the best aunt a kid could ask for.”

“Thank you,” she smiles.

* * *

I walk into our apartment to see boxes littering the small living space as I kick off my shoes before making my way further into the apartment to find Adena and the kids packing in their room, “Mommy!” Jack smiles, rushing over and wrapping his arms around my legs.

“Hey, Love,” I smile, running my fingers through his hair, “how are you?”

“I’m good, Mama was letting me pick the color I want for my new room,” he chimes, sitting back down on Katie’s bed where she, Adena, and Jack were huddled around the laptop Adena was holding.

“Within reason, of course,” Adena chimes, getting up from the bed and walking over to kiss me, “how was your day?” 

“Long, same old story, meetings, coffee with Sutton,” I shrug, “how was your day?”

“Packing, organizing. I made a pile of stuff I think we should donate, it’s in the box by the door waiting for your approval.”

“If you think it should be donated, I have nothing to object to,” I smile, leaning in to kiss her sweetly before walking into our bedroom. I feel Adena walk up behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist and kissing the back of my neck.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I smile, turning in her arms and wrapping mine around her.

“Are you still up for starting to move tomorrow?”

“Of course, I can’t wait to get into the new house. I already took the time off, so everything is ready to go.”

“Okay,” Adena smiles, wrapping me in a hug, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Are you sure you’re okay, Love?” She asks, running her hand down my cheek. 

“I promise. I just am starting to realize that it’s a lot,” I say, gesturing around the room at all the half-full boxes littering our bedroom.

“You’re overwhelmed?”

“A little bit,” I nod.

“It’s okay,” Adena smiles, leaning in to kiss me, “I don’t want you to be overwhelmed, but it’s okay to be.”

“I know,” I sigh.

“It’s a lot, we’ve discussed a lot too, and I know it’s overwhelming, but I think all of these choices will be good for us.”

“I think so too.”

“Even about trying for a baby?"

“I think that will be an experience worth taking with you, I just want to make sure everything is right before we start.

“Of course. When we’re ready, we’ll try,” she smiles, leaning in and kissing me sweetly.


	22. Chapter 22

-Adena POV-

I open the door to Katie’s bedroom to see she was sound asleep in her bed, her teddy bear firmly tucked under her chin. I walk in, pulling the covers up a bit more before kissing her head and walking out of the room and down the hall to Jack’s room to see him sprawled out on his bed, his curls wild against his pillow, his stuffed turtle on the floor beside his bed. I smile, walking in and putting his turtle back in his arms and trying to readjust him without waking him up. I kissed his forehead before walking out of his room, still familiarizing myself with the layout of our apartment, even though we’ve been here for a couple of months already. As I make my way across the apartment to mine and Kat’s room I hear the front door open, and Kat’s laugh. I smile, looking to see she and Sutton were stumbling into the apartment, “Hey Babe!” Kat chimes, walking over and pulling me in for a sloppy kiss, “sorry, we had a few more drinks than intended,” she apologizes with a smile. 

“It’s okay, it’s nice to see you had fun. It’s nice to see you too Sutton.”

“Nice to see you Adena. I’m not as bad as your wife, she insisted on having more than she should.”

“Clearly.”

“I was celebrating!” Kat whines, “I got a pay raise,” She chimes, kissing me on the cheek. 

“Congratulations,” I smile, kissing her cheek, “do you want to take a shower?”

“I think that’s a good idea, can you come with me?”

“Of course, thank you for bringing her back in one piece, Sutton.”

“No problem, I will see you next time,” Sutton chimes, making her way out of the apartment.

“Are I you going to shower with me?” Kat asks, wiggling her eyebrows.

“That doesn’t seem like the best idea for right now, Love. You know I don’t like to do anything when you aren’t yourself.”

“I know, I know,” she says, nearly tripping over herself as she walks toward our room.

“You haven’t drank in a while, have you?”

“No I haven’t, and a couple of drinks made me look like a fool.”

“Clearly,” I laugh as I lead her into our bathroom, starting the shower. I turned around to see Kat struggling to reach of the zipper of her dress, resulting in her whining like a child and stomping her feet, “seriously, Kat?”

“I can’t reach it,” she whines. I walk over, helping her out of her dress, “thank you.”

“You’re welcome, shower and come to bed, I want to talk to you.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I leave her in the bathroom and make my way over to the bed, making myself comfortable. Soon after, Kat come stumbling through the door, “I tripped on a toy, that had nothing to do with drinking,” she says, walking over and putting on pajamas. I laugh as she throws herself into bed beside me, kissing my cheek before curling up next to me.

“Are you sober enough to listen to what I’m going to tell you?”

“Yes, But be advised I’m only half listening regardless.”

“I went to the doctor.” 

“What happened?” 

“We are okay to start the process,” I smile as Kat pulls me into a hug, kissing me softly.

“I’m excited,” she says, kissing me again.

“Really?”

“Of course. I can’t wait to see you pregnant.”

“Even when I get fat and cranky?”

“I’m ready for it.”

“I love you. I’m happy we decided to take this journey together.”

“I feel the same way. But we have to talk about it with Jack and Katie.”

“I think we should start the process first, and then we can tell them.”

“I think telling them first will be better. Let them know we’re in the process of expanding the family and allow for them to understand that it isn’t anything to worry about, they are adopted, they are at an age where they are aware of what’s going on and I don’t think it’s fair to them if we don’t include them in all steps of the process.”

 

-Kat POV-

It was my turn to pick up the kids from school, I stood at the bottom of the steps on the main entrance answering work emails when I feel a little body crash into me, wrapping me in a tight hug, “Hi, Mommy!” Jack chimes as he looks up at me with a smile.

“Hi Baby, how was school?” I ask, running my fingers through is thick curls.

“Good, I drew a picture, it’s in my backpack.”

“Wonderful, Mama will be happy to hang it up next to the others.”

“I know, she’s going to like it a lot.”

“Hi, Mommy!” Katie chimes, skipping over to me and wrapping me in a hug. 

“Hello, Love,” I smile, kissing the top of her head as I take their hands and begin leading them towards the crosswalk. They both take turns telling me about their days at school, what they learned and what they did. It was nice to know they both were able to adjust to the school setting, seeing as Adena and I didn’t know if they went to school prior. Once we got home they both fell into their routines of cleaning up, changing clothes and starting on homework.

“Mommy, I need help,” Katie chimes, waving a worksheet in my face.

“Mama will be here any minute, you know she’s better at math than I am. I don’t understand this new math stuff and when I do it my way, it’s wrong.”

“Okay, can I take a break then?”

“You can go watch some TV, but as soon as Mama gets here you’re back to homework.”

“Yes ma’am,” she says, getting out of her chair and going over to watch TV.

“Can I watch TV, Mommy?” Jack chimes, holding up his sheet to show he was done with his work.

“No arguing with Katie,” I say, kissing the top of his head before he rushes over to the couch, jumping up to sit on the opposite side of Katie. I soon feel Adena walking up behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist and kissing the back of my neck.

“Hello, Love,” She whispers in my ear.

“How was your day?”

“Good, I got a lot done. I’m looking into setting up a showing soon which is always exciting.”

“That is exciting,” I smile, turning in her arms and kissing her properly, “Katie has to finish her math sheet.”

“Why is she watching TV?”

“You know I hate math, she was working so hard on everything else that I told her she could have a break until you got home, she’s only been watching for about ten minutes.”

“Okay,” She says, kissing me quickly, “Katie, let’s finish this math,” she calls out, causing Katie to jump up from the couch. Once they were done with homework, Adena went in to change before deciding in ordering a pizza for dinner.

“When are we going to talk to them?” I ask after she puts her phone down from ordering.

“Why do you think I ordered pizza on a Wednesday,” She chimes, kissing my cheek.

“Sneaky. But bribing them with something they like isn’t going to change things.”

“Why are you so worried about it?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t want them to think anything of it. I don’t want them to think they we are replacing them or something like that.”

“Have you been talking to your parents? That seems like something they would say for some reason. Did you ask your mother for her opinion?”

“No, this is all me being genuinely concerned about trying for a child so soon after adopting.”

“Everything will be okay,” she says placing her hands in my cheeks, “I don’t want you to worry about it, Kat. Really, everything will be fine.”‍

“Mama, someone is ringing the door,” Jack chimes before disappearing again. 

“We are going to talk to them now. They are both old enough to let us understand how they feel about this situation, everything will be okay.” After dinner and the kids telling us about their days at school, Adena looked at me with a look that basically said it was time to talk. 

“Mama and I have to talk to you guys about something,” I say, leaning on the kitchen island across from the kids.

“Are we moving again?” Jack asks with concern all over his face.

“No, Love, we aren’t moving again,” Adena says, running her fingers through his hair, “How would you feel about Mommy and I having a baby?”

“Like your own baby?” Katie asks, cocking an eyebrow.

“I guess you could say it like that.”

“What about us?” Jack asks, looking between us with concern still present in his eyes.

“We will still love you and Katie more than anything in the world. Nothing is going to change that,” I say, reaching over and placing my hand on his. 

“Will it be a boy or a girl?” Katie asks.

“We wouldn’t know for a little while about that small detail, Love. Mommy and I haven’t even started trying yet, we just wanted to know how you felt about it before we started seeing the doctors.”

“As long as I get to keep my room to myself, I don’t care. It would be nice having a baby around,” Katie chimes.

“And what about you, Jack?” I ask, looking into his eyes to see him thinking a thousand different things.

“Are you still going to keep us?”

“Of course we are, Love.”

“And the baby isn’t going to change anything?”

“Not at all, we will keep our love for you the same. There will just be an extra child for us to share our love with,” Adena chimes, “Jack, there isn’t anything in the world that could change the love Mommy and I have for you and Katie. Adding a new sibling to that isn’t going to change anything, I promise.”

“Do I have to share my room?”

“No, Love. If anything Mama and I lose our office before you would ever lose your room,” I say reassuringly. 

“Okay,” Jack chimes, looking at us for a minute before asking, “Can I have more pizza?” 

“Yes, Love. You can have more pizza,” Adena chimes, helping him.

* * *

“I have news!” Sutton shouts, walking towards my desk and grabbing my elbow as she drags me over to where Jame was sat, working on her article.

“Oh, okay,” Jane chimes as she gets pulled by Sutton. She drags us towards the fashion closet, pushing us in before we had a chance to register what was going on.

“I’m pregnant!” Sutton shouts.

“Congratulations?” I ask, cocking an eyebrow as she nods her head like a crazy person, holding back a smile. 

“Congratulations!” Jane chimes, “whether they be a boy or girl, I have clothes for them, Brady is growing out of everything left and right and Diana is slowly growing out of her clothes, but there is enough to donate to a worthy cause.”

“How did Richard take the news?” I asked, sitting down on the ottoman in the middle of the room.

“I didn’t tell him yet. I only really found out this morning, I mean, I felt like I was for weeks now. I took a few tests at home, and then I went to the doctor to be sure and I got a call this morning.”

“So you’re going to tell him later?”

“Of course, I just wanted to tell you guys first,” she chimes as she wraps us both in a hug, “I love you both and you should know first.”

“Nice to know we get priority over the father, it makes me feel special,” Jane chimes. 

“I am truly touched,” I teased, placing my hand in my chest, “Now I have news. Adena and I were talking about expanding the family, and we talked to the kids about it.”

“How did that go?”

“It went well, we got the blessing from them,” I laughed, “and we’re going to start trying soon.”

“How soon?” Jane asks.

“A couple of weeks, Adena has it all mapped and planned, I’m just there for moral support.” 

“It’s more than moral support. You’re going to be a parent,” Jane chimes.

“I’m already a parent.”

“But your wife is going to be pregnant and you’re going to have to go through the motions of that. Realistically, that’s more than just moral support.”

“I know,” I sigh, “I just hope everything will be okay, and nothing happens to her.”

“Are you worried about something happening to her?” Sutton chimes. 

“Of course. I mean, modern medicine is great and all, but I still can’t help but worry that something will happen to her. Whether it be complications with getting pregnant, or the pregnancy itself, or complications during birth. I just don’t want to lose her at the risk of having a baby when we were so set on adoption and found two amazing kids to help make our family. I love her to death, I want her to be happy and I feel like she’s realized she’s missed a major part of being a woman and needs to make up for that choice of adopting.”

“Don’t worry about things that aren’t important right now. Be grateful that your wife is able to have a child and that your family is on board with expanding,” Sutton smiles, “on that note, I have to go before Oliver finds and kills me, and I have to think of how I’m going to tell Richard my news.”

“And I have to finish my article.” They both leave the fashion closet without another word, leaving me to sit there alone, I sigh when I hear my phone start to ring, smiling when I see it was Adena. 

“Hey, Dena.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, just a long morning,” I sigh, making my way out of the room, “how are you?”

“Good, I was just finishing up a few prints and wanted to see how you were.”

“As good as it gets, Love. I have a meeting soon and then another meeting after that.”

“You sound like you need a break.”

“Yeah, it’s been busy.”

“I had an idea I wanted to run by you.”

“Okay,” I smile, sitting down at my desk.


End file.
